LSTAR's News Release for OCTOBER 2022

 

Rising Borrowing Costs Further Soften Local Home Sales

In October 2022, the MLS® System of the London and St. Thomas Association of REALTORS® (LSTAR) saw 975 new listings and 504 home sales. While October's new listings were on par with the average value recorded for the month of October throughout the last decade, the monthly home sales were at their lowest point in the last ten years.

"This year's successive increases in interest rates put a big dent in the local home sales activity and made the year-over-year price values plunge. However, it's not all bad news: LSTAR's sales-to-new listings ratio increased from 42.4% in September to 51.7% in October, which indicates a more balanced market. Moreover, the overall average home price in the London-St. Thomas region was a bit higher in October than during the previous month, increasing from $635,256 in September to $640,570 last month," said 2022 LSTAR President Randy Pawlowski.

Compared to a year ago, both the average home price and the composite MLS® Home Price Index (HPI) Benchmark Price edged slightly down but remained higher than the figures seen in 2020 and before. LSTAR's overall average home price was $640,570 in October, 4.1% less than a year ago, but 21.7% higher than in October 2020. The composite MLS® HPI Benchmark Price sat last month at $584,200, 2.1% lower than last year, but 26.1% higher than in October 2020.