St. Thomas, Ontario: A Home Buyer's Guide to the Market

St. Thomas sits just south of London in Elgin County, and a growing number of London-area buyers are asking whether it deserves a look. It has a lower benchmark price than most of the London market, a population that has been growing, and one very large industrial project in the news. This guide pulls together what we can verify so you can decide with clear eyes.

Who lives here: the verified numbers

The 2021 Census counted 42,840 people in the City of St. Thomas, an increase of 10.1% from 2016 (Statistics Canada). For comparison, the City of London recorded 422,324 residents, up 10.0%. In other words, St. Thomas grew at almost exactly the same pace as its much larger neighbour.

Census numbers are a snapshot from 2021, so they say little about what has happened since. They are useful for scale: St. Thomas is a mid-sized city with its own council, services and identity, not a suburb of London.

What homes cost: the August 2026 benchmark

LSTAR, the London and St. Thomas Association of REALTORS®, published a St. Thomas benchmark price of $499,700 in its August 2026 release. The same release put the composite benchmark for the broader London market at $553,500, with Middlesex Centre at $757,300, Strathroy-Caradoc at $717,800 and Central Elgin at $629,500. Among those named areas, St. Thomas was one of the more affordable.

A few cautions about how to read that number:

• A benchmark is a modelled price for a typical home, not an average of sales and not a quote for any house.
• It is one month, and LSTAR’s chair has described the wider market as showing signs of a buyers’ market. Your exact street and property type matter more than any headline figure.
• Newer homes, older character homes and homes with large lots can sit well away from the benchmark in either direction.

If you are comparing the two cities, our London housing market report for September 2026 gives the broader context.

Services to verify on the City’s website

Rather than tell you what a neighbourhood is “like,” we suggest confirming the basics yourself on the City of St. Thomas website. It links to:

• Parks, Urban Forestry and Recreation, plus a page for recreation programs and sports
• The St. Thomas Public Library
• Transit, with a page of its own under “Living in St. Thomas”

Check these against your own routine. If you rely on public transit, read the transit page and see whether the routes and hours near a given address work for you. If you have children or a dog, look at which parks are close and whether any are closed for work. Our St. Thomas community page has more local buying questions.

The PowerCo project: say what is known, and no more

The largest local story is the PowerCo battery cell plant. In a December 2023 release, the Volkswagen Group said its battery company PowerCo planned to invest up to CAD$7 billion by 2030 in the St. Thomas project, with up to 3,000 jobs and capacity of up to 90 GWh (Volkswagen Group).

Those are the company’s stated plans and projections, not guarantees. Project timelines can change, and news coverage in late September 2026 pointed to a revised schedule, which we have not confirmed from a primary source and so are not quoting. We are not giving a start date for that reason.

What does that mean for a buyer?

1. Do not pay a premium on the assumption that a particular opening year will lift values by a particular amount.
2. Do not skip a home you like because you assume prices will jump.
3. Buy for your own situation: your income, your commute, your family, how long you plan to stay.

If the plant does eventually bring demand for housing, that is a possible bonus. It should not be the plan.

Older homes and newer builds

St. Thomas offers a mix, from older homes on established streets to newer builds. For a resale, an independent inspection matters most; see our home inspection guide. For a new build, read our guide to the Tarion new home warranty and the page on new home construction, and ask about the builder, the closing timeline and any HST rebates that might apply.

Costs to plan for

Buying in St. Thomas means paying Ontario land transfer tax, the same provincial tax that applies in London. On a $400,000 purchase the provincial tax works out to $4,475, and eligible first-time buyers may qualify for a refund of up to $4,000. We walk through the brackets in our land transfer tax guide and the programs in our first-time buyer guide. Property tax will be billed by the City of St. Thomas, so ask for the current annual figure on any home you are seriously considering.

Questions to ask before you offer

• What have similar homes on this street or nearby sold for recently, compared with the $499,700 benchmark?
• How long have comparable homes taken to sell lately?
• If I work in London, have I tested the actual commute at the hours I would drive it?
• Which services, parks and transit stops near this address have I checked on the City’s site?
• What is the property tax, and what do the inspection and any water or heating-system reports show?

Talk to us

If you are weighing St. Thomas against London, or you own here and want to know what your home might sell for, we are happy to pull recent comparable sales. Start with our buyer guide, request a free home valuation, or contact us.