WATCH: The real estate numbers are in for July and while sales have slowed down a bit in Victoria, last month was still the busiest July on record. Monica Martinez reports.
As temperatures heat up on the south island, real estate numbers normally dip down.
In July, 972 properties sold in Greater Victoria.
That’s 202 less than June after three months of record breaking numbers in March, April and May.
But last month still had hot numbers, and was the busiest July on record.
Almost 200 more properties sold compared to July 2015.
The last time Greater Victoria saw a July this busy was in 2009 when 933 properties sold.
Remax/Camosun Realtor Tony Joe said the craziness still exists.
“We are still seeing multiple offers, we are seeing heavy activity once their property is new on the market but we are seeing fewer showings, and all that really means is only truly motivated buyers looking right now,” he said.
The high volume of sales is even more striking when looking at the low inventory levels.
In July, there were 2,161 active listings.
At the same time last year, there were 3,942 listings.
That’s a 45% decrease in inventory.
“I would say there are a lot of people that would like to sell right now but they are reluctant to go on market right now because they don’t know if they’ll be able to find a place to move to,” Joe said.
With red hot demand, and low levels of supply, the impact on prices are not surprising.
The price of a single family home in the Victoria core increased from $599,800 in July 2015 to $741,100 this year, a jump of $141,300.
For condos in Greater Victoria, the price jumped from about $300,000 in 2015 to $350,000 this year. An increase of 14%.
The Condo Group realtor Tony Zarsadias said affordability is keeping demand for condos high.
“People who would have been house buyers a year or two years ago are now townhouse buyers. And those townhouse buyers used to be able to buy something for $550,000 but now you can’t buy a townhouse for that price so now they are are condo buyers, and it just pushes everybody down,” he said.
The seasonal slowdown is expected, but there is still a lot of activity keeping everyone on their toes.
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