House prices in the Windsor area have increased the most across Ontario over the past two years.
A recent report from Zoocasa.com, an online real estate brokerage firm in Toronto, showed that average home prices in Windsor-Essex jumped by 25 per cent between April 2017 and April 2019. The average price of a home in the Windsor area is now almost $344,000. London had the second largest increase with house prices there rising by 19 per cent on average. The average house price in London jumped to $429,000.
"While sales in the Windsor-Essex region have remained flat and new supply surged by 16 per cent, the market remains in sellers’ territory continuing to put upward pressure on prices," Zoocasa added.
Zoocasa said house prices have changed since the introduction of the Fair Housing Plan by the former provincial Liberal government two years ago. The Liberals introduced a 16-part set of measures aimed at balancing the Ontario housing market by cooling rampant price growth.
The brokerage said the southern Ontario market weathered the new regulations with greater success than most, especially the affordable secondary markets that are supported by strong employment.
"Those markets with the greatest price increases over the last 24 months all have average home prices below $500,000," said Zoocasa.
Zoocasa said the changes had an immediate effect on the market with local real estate boards noting a large increase of listings in the following months as sellers looked to cash-in before the market went soft.
It’s a similar scenario in London, which has experienced hot price growth because low supply is driving bidding wars.