The Toronto Star reported that a four bedroom 1,200 square foot Mimico house sold for nearly $200,000 more than the $379,000 asking price following a bidding war of 31 potential buyers last week.

Sales listing agent Tom Kioussis told the paper he wasn’t at all surprised by the amount of bidders, however, due to the tight supply in the area and low interest rates that are still sparking demand in January.

“The inventory is so limited right now, and especially in some prime pockets of the city,” Kioussis told the Star. “Lots of people are looking to buy, but supply is low on the buyer’s side.”

Such gains from the original asking price still rare in most parts of the country, but similar cases were reported a year ago in Vancouver. News 1130 reported one house on Vancouver’s Westside sold for $500,000 over the $1.09 million asking price, up about 50% to $1.61 million from. Other examples showed similar markups in the same area.

At that time, much of the heat to the January market in Vancouver was attributed to the influx of Chinese buyers. Replicating last year’s results might be impossible, but the beginning of the Lunar New Year is typically a strong buying period for Chinese buyers in Vancouver.