The average price of a home in the London area soared 15 per cent in 2019 to $426,539 in 2019, a year the London Real Estate Association (LSTAR) is calling the "third best year" in its history.

The price gains follow a busy year where 10,125 homes were bought and sold in the region, making it the third hottest year on record for the area in terms of real estate sales.

LSTAR said the sales-to-listings ratio, the ratio between the number of homes sold and the number of new listings entering the market, stayed steady at about 70 per cent through most of the year.

However, as 2019 came to a close, the ratio tipped to 110 per cent according to LSTAR, as buyers clamoured for what limited homes were available, triggering bidding wars and driving up prices.

With the average value of a home in the City of London at $436,166 and no shortage of potential buyers, it seems like the average value of a home in the city could easily surpass $450,000 this year as some analysts predicted.

Outside the city, real estate has also seen gains. The average price of a home in Middlesex County hit $465,604 in December 2019, while that same month the average price of a home in Strathroy and St. Thomas reached $350,298 and $393,972 respectively.

While prices have seen sizeable shifts in London in recent years, the cost of a home is still below the $561,771 average value in nearby Kitchener-Waterloo or the Canadian average of $528,728.