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Selling prices in London’s housing market are far from the red-hot levels they hit during the pandemic, but don’t tell that to would-be condo sellers and buyers.
Benchmark prices for condominiums in London have shot up by 15.3 per cent this year, the biggest price hike in the country, a new market snapshot by real estate company Zoocasa shows.
Benchmark prices are calculated using the features a property has, including its age, location, and the number of bedrooms and bathrooms. It is often considered a more accurate indicator of the value of a “typical property,” as is not influenced by the highest and lowest sale prices like average home prices. The benchmark for a condo unit un London was $405,000 in April.
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Zoocasa analyzed 21 markets’ rate of increase in 2024. The Top 5 are:
- London: 15.3%
- Saint John, N.B: 13.1%
- Saskatoon: 9.9%
- Edmonton: 6.8%
- Quebec City: 6.4%
Several factors are influencing the local price increase, said Mike Ashby, a London sales representative for Exp Realty, which owns Zoocasa.
Despite the national cooldown the housing market has experienced due to higher interest rates, London remains an attractive destination given its relative affordability when compared to markets closer to the Greater Toronto Area.
London’s prices are also likely impacted by the new types of condos hitting the market, Ashby said.
“The skyline in London has changed significantly over the past five or seven years,” he said. “We’re seeing a lot of new developments and highrises in the city, and a lot of those are condos, which are now more considered to be in the luxury market . . . so they’re pretty expensive compared to the rest of London’s condo market.”
The high cost of single-family homes, coupled with higher interest rates, is making properties such as condos a more attractive option, Ashby said.
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In April, for instance, the benchmark price of a single-family home in the London area was $647,000, according to figures from the London and St. Thomas Association of Realtors (LSTAR).
“Affordability is an issue on what you can get pre-approved for,” Ashby said. “A lot of first-time buyers and people just looking to own their own place, they’re kind of getting pushed into the condo sector just based on pricing.”
Kathy Amess, LSTAR’s chair, said condos are also a more appealing option for newer investors, given the strength of the local rental market and the lower cost to maintain the property.
But just like other segments of the market, condo sales have also been relatively stable this year.
“On the ground, we’re in a fairly balanced market,” Amess said.
Properties “aren’t flying off the shelves, but they’re not sitting on the market for eight months either.”
jjuha@postmedia.com
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