It was another exciting week in the Victoria real estate market with continuing strong sales in the single family home market.  Last week I reported the greatest number of sales in a 30 day period for detached homes since 2010.  This week, that number is higher again!  Great news for those selling their house.

Does this mean that prices are moving up?  Unfortunately not.  Many of the homes that are coming on the market are aggressively priced and that is why they are selling.  Sellers that price their homes over the market price are often finding that they are not seeing the visits and subsequent the offers that they expected.  In short, although the volume of sales is high, the market is very price sensitive at the same time.

Volume has picked up as well in the condo market, but at the expense of selling prices which have dropped again.  I don't envy those that have a condo to sell, especially if they purchased it in the last couple of years.  All I can tell you is that condo prices are likely to drop a bit more before they eventually settle.  That means that you should be aggressive now and drop your price as necessary to get your property sold.  Holding it longer could simply mean a lower selling price.  For those that have dreams of owning a house, taking a loss now on your condo and getting into the detached home market is likely to be the best financial decision.

Here are the raw stats from the last 30 days:

Over the last 30 days, 370 single family houses were sold, up by 5 houses from last week.  The median price is up $2,400 to $532,300. The average house was on the market for 40 days.  In the last 30 days, 154 condos were sold, up by 10 condos from last week.  The median price is down $8,500 to $273,500. The average condo was on the market for 47 days.

There are now 2,247 houses for sale, up by 3 from last week.  Condo inventory has fallen by 13 to 1027 suites.

(h)(s)