Friday, November 9, 2018

A Record Month for Home Sales in October

London and St. Thomas Association of REALTORS® (LSTAR) announced a record 906 homes were sold in October, up 11.9% over the same month last year. The number of home re-sales in October marks the best monthly total for October since LSTAR began tracking data in 1978.

"It was a very strong October, with home re-sales high above the 10-year-average," said Jeff Nethercott, 2018 LSTAR President. "One of the trends we saw in October was a healthy increase in the number of new listings to the marketplace. October had 1,171 new listings, up 38.1% compared to October 2017. Average sales price continues to make steady gains as well all across the region."

"Although inventory (what is called active listings) has seen a record low in 2018, October actually had a slight gain," Nethercott said. "Last month, there were 1,553 active listings in LSTAR’s jurisdiction, up 3.0% from October 2017. The sales-to-new listings ratio was 77.4%, which the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) says represents conditions in the marketplace that favour sellers (a ratio between 40% and 60% is generally consistent with a balanced market).
 
The market here in the Grand Bend area has been very active as well with homes/cottages selling well in the fall market and there are more listings on the market compared to the summer. Our average price this year has been steadily rising with some areas increasing over 20%.