It is fairly easy to identify the city’s most expensive or least expensive neighbourhood. It is easy to identify the neighbourhood that saw the hottest growth in the previous year. But how would you identify London Ontario’s most average neighbourhood?
At stevebaarda.com we focus on a few different numbers to assess the real estate market for the city, the north, east and south regions as well as each of the local areas. One number is the over all average price. We also break that apart into the condo and detached homes markets. We note the change from year to year, whether each is going up or down and by what percentage. We also note the volume of sales in each neighbourhood.
I have been asked by clients and other acquaintances what is a “typical” neighbourhood in London? It is an interesting question and not one easily answered. Is there a typical neighbourhood in London? Is it the area that has all the different ages and styles of homes that can be found throughout the city? Is it the area with the most average price point? Will it be a local that has a number of features common to the city, such as access to the rivers and the excellent network of parks that run along the rivers?
For the purposes of this article, we are going to try to mix hard sales data with a more subjective approach. Hopefully, London’s “Most Average Neighbourhood” will fill the bill in both regards.
The average price for London Ontario in 2013 for all residential properties including both condos and detached homes was $246,750. Detached homes averaged $270,859 and condos averaged $176,490 in 2013. The ratio in terms of how many of each were sold was almost exactly 75% detached homes and 25% condos.
There are five neighbourhoods that are close enough to all three price averages to have a shot at being the most average neighbourhood:
Overall Average Price (City: $246,750)
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Old South — $248,993 (+/- $2,243)
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Summerside — $257,569 (+/- $10,819)
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Westmount — $261,167 (+/- $14,417)
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Medway — $231,514 (+/- $15,232)
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Stoney Creek — $264,463 (+/- $17,713)
Detached Home Price (City: $270,859)
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Summerside — $268,314 (+/- $2,545)
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Old South — $262,113 (+/- $8,746)
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Medway — $253,481 (+/- $17,378)
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Stoney Creek — $295,979 (+/- $25,120)
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Westmount — $309,155 (+/- $38,296)
Condominium Price (City: $176,490)
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Westmount — $175,643 (+/- $847)
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Stoney Creek — $166,632 (+/- $9,858)
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Medway — $188,159 (+/- $11,669)
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Old South — $144,523 (+/- $31,967)
- Summerside — $213,461 (+/- $36,971)
The first thing you notice among all of these contenders is that there is a lot of variation in prices, not just from neighbourhood to neighbourhood, but also in terms of the differences between condo and house prices in the different areas. Overall, the total variation from the average works out as follows:
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Old South — +/- $42,956
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Medway — +/- $44,279
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Summerside — +/- $50,335
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Stoney Creek — +/- $52,691
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Westmount — +/- $53,560