The London and St Thomas Association of Realtors says 2016 was a historic year for real estate, with residential sales surpassing 10,000 for the first time.

In 2016, a total of 10,193 homes were sold, up 8.8 per cent from 2015.

“Overall, it was an incredible year for residential real estate in our region,” said Stacey Evoy, LSTAR 2016 president.

“Throughout 2016, we observed high demand with low supply that contributed to a very robust marketplace. Six months of the year saw their best sales since LSTAR has been tracking data, which speaks to why the industry thrived in 2016.”

In 2016, a total of 8,260 detached homes were sold, an increase of 9.2 per cent over the previous year, while there were 1,933 condominium sales, up 7.2 per cent from 2015.

“We saw a 10.4 per cent decrease in the number of home listings, with a total of 14,867 listings for the year,” Evoy said. “This illustrates the high demand and low supply, with inventory (what we call Active Listings End of Period) down 39.2 per cent.”

St. Thomas had another strong year, with a total of 854 homes sold, up 2.9 per cent from the previous year. The average home price in St. Thomas was up 7.7 per cent over 2015, at $233,476.

The best-selling house style in 2016 continues to be the two-storey, followed by the bungalow and ranch. The average price for a detached home in 2016 was $297,480, up 5.4 per cent, while the average price for a condominium was $200,335, up 5.6 per cent. The average price of all homes sold in 2016 through LSTAR’s MLS® was $279,057, up 5.5 per cent.