You know it; we know it. The Victoria real estate market is scorching. As we run head-first into the normally busy spring market, the stats are showing we’re already well on our way to continuing our record-setting pace.
last month’s stats
- 1,173 properties sold
- ↑ 92.9 per cent over March 2020
- ↑ 35.9 per cent over February 2021
- 377 condos sold
- ↑ 111.8 per cent over March 2020
- ↑ 30.0 per cent over February 2021
- 574 single-family homes sold
- ↑ 88.2 per cent over March 2020
- ↑ 47.2 per cent over February 2021
The one caveat to these numbers, though, is that this time last year our world ground to a halt. The market fell off a cliff as people put home-buying on hold and grappled with a worldwide lockdown and whether their livelihoods and down payments remained safe. There was a huge uptick in sales over last year, but it’s tough to say how accurate of a viewpoint that really is.
Victoria real estate market releases its March stats.
“Limited supply with overwhelming demand has been the story for the first quarter of 2021,” said VREB President David Langlois. “Numbers from last month are close to the market trends we saw in 2016, but with an even greater imbalance in inventory due to a surge in consumer demand for homes in the Victoria area.”
fewer listings; record-low inventory
Last month, there were only 1,310 active listings on the MLS® for the Victoria real estate market, which is 41.8 per cent fewer properties than March 2020 and just slightly fewer than February 2021.
The Home Price Index benchmark value for a single-family home in the Victoria core was $968,700 in March 2021. That highlights a 10.1 per cent increase over March 2020 and about 2.2 per cent increase over February’s value. The benchmark value for a condo in the core remained close to March 2020’s value at $529,100. That value was a slight increase over February’s $525,400.
To read the full statistical package, you can find it here: www.vreb.org/current-statistics.
Langlois goes on to explain, “Supply needs to be addressed by all levels of government and particularly by local governments and particularly local governments which control land use policies and development processes. Equally important, governments need to ensure that measure they make to moderate the housing market do not exacerbate the problem by attempting to suppress demand by adding costs or qualification barriers. These sorts of measures raise the overall cost of housing and add even more challenges for first-time buyers.”
We’re all in unchartered territory right now, with buyers getting creative in their offer process to win in the many multiple offer situations they’ll face. From the beginning, you need to have an experienced network of professionals you trust to support you through this endeavour.
Whether you’re thinking of listing your property or looking to purchase, now is not the time to be going at it alone. Let’s talk about how our process can help you achieve your real estate goals with as little stress as possible.
Until next time.
Kaley, Mike & Rodney