2024 market conditions got some buyers 'off of the fence': LSTAR

Home sales hit a three-year high in the London region last year and local realtors predict that trend will continue in 2025.

According to the London and St. Thomas Realtors Association (LSTAR), the biggest contributing factor was the decrease in interest rates.

Former LSTAR Chair Kathy Amess explained, "[It] made homes a bit more affordable for some first time buyers. Got some people maybe off the fence. I think it brought a lot of confidence into some people's decisions that maybe they weren't quite sure. And with the lower rates, they thought that now is the time to do it."

According to LSTAR, nearly 8,100 homes were sold last year, an 8.4 per cent increase from 2023, amounting to almost $5.2 billion in sales.

“[2024] ended up actually pretty good,” shared Amess. “We're about up about 8.6 per cent from last year, which is not necessarily something that we expected to see at the beginning of the year."

Amess says although homes are taking a little bit longer to sell, it's a better overall environment for buyers and sellers.

"They've got a little bit more time to look at properties. They can do home inspections, you know, include conditions in their offers... It's also a little less hectic for sellers because they're not having, you know, a pile of showings in one day and having a lot of chaos going on."

LSTAR says compared to the home sales heyday that was 2021, home sales in London are down 34.7 per cent by dollar volume this year.

But the future looks promising, "We're looking forward to, you know, good things next year,” insisted Amess. “We've got the lower interest rates than we had at the start of the year."

The average sale price in 2024 was about $640,000.