Posted on
February 20, 2012
by
Leong & Roozendaal (Re/Max Camosun)
It was another positive week in the market with an increasing pace of sales for both houses and condos. Although prices are still down, the pace of sales and the number of days that it takes to sell a home are both going in the right direction. I tend to think that if demand stays high, we could even see some slight appreciation in prices. But, lets not jump the gun on that one!
It is important to point out that the new HST transition rules are great news for new home buyers. In short, any new home selling for more than $525,000 now attracts less HST and should be cheaper. Homes priced at under $525,000 are not affected. The tax savings are incremental, with new properties valued at $850,000 and higher seeing a tax reduction of $16,250. Even better, these transition rules give tax certainty and tell us that new properties cost the same today as they will after the HST disappears completely. Considering that developers have been hurting lately, this is probably the best time of all to buy as I’m sure any developer would like a few quick sales!
Over the last 30 days, 227 single family houses were sold, up by 29 houses from last week. The median price is up $10,500 to $530,500. The average house was on the market for 32 days.
In the same time period, 135 condos were sold, up by 5 condos from last week. The median price is down $15,950 to $264,000. The average condo was on the market for 60 days.
There are now 1,649 houses for sale, up by 30 from last week. Condo inventory has risen by 2 to 884 suites.
(r) (h)