For the last few weeks I have been reporting some pretty concerning numbers in regards to the Real Estate market here in Victoria, BC. The volume of sales was dropping steeply and prices had started to soften as well. It didn’t look very good for sellers as the negative news causing buyers to take a “wait and see” attitude – further exasperating the problem of soft sales.
We’ve seen these sudden slowdowns before and they generally follow one of two courses. Either they continue and turn into a longer term soft market with low prices, or they are more short lived, with a bit of an upwards bounce in price, recovering from a bit of a downwards over-reaction.
This last week we have started to see more activity in the market, especially in our new home developments, Homes at Hazelwood and The Summit at Thetis, on the west shore. No, we are not suddenly having our doors broken down, but there is a feeling of more activity and more buyers are writing offers. Some buyers are even saying to us that the media is over reacting and that they feel that houses in Victoria are a bit of a good deal right now after the recent price decreases.
I don’t have a crystal ball – although I wish I did – but the numbers for the last week paint a better story than we have been seeing and, hopefully, signal the beginning of a new trend. Single-family home sales are up in both the number of homes sold and the selling prices. At the same time, inventory has dropped. Great news all round, but this is just one week worth of stats. If this continues, we will still end up with a net reduction in home prices, but the downwards trend could be over with a bit of a positive bounce in prices.
I can’t wait to see next week’s numbers! If you want to make sure that you don’t miss them, remember to “like” Victoria Real Estate on Facebook.
Here are the stats from the last week:
Over the last 30 days, 217 single-family houses were sold, up by 7 houses from last week. The median price is up $12,500 to $531,000. The average house was on the market for 51 days.
In the last 30 days, 130 condos were sold, down by 4 condos from last week. The median price is down $6,000 to $258,950. The average condo was on the market for 61 days.
There are now 2,262 houses for sale, down by 10 from last week. Condo inventory has risen by 26 to 1055 suites.
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