Blog

January 2021

Hard to believe we’re 1 month into 2021 already! WOW!

And what a start for our market – strong sales activity yet again. Sales in January up just over 50% year over year for the month. Incredible. To say our market is bustling is a massive understatement.

Houses priced in the $750,000 – 1.2 million range continue to garner a lot of attention and typically multiple offers.

Supply and Demand. January 2021 inventory 32% less than January 2020.

It would be amazing to see more inventory come on the market.

Benchmark prices for a single family home now at $932,000 for the greater Victoria region – that’s up 8.3% year over year.

Benchmark prices for condo’s relatively flat year over year.

If you are thinking of selling a home – right now the stars have aligned! A tremendous opportunity exists.

Buyers – need to continue to be patient & prepared. We’ve got some clever ways to help out – feel free to get in touch anytime.

Onward we go….

What to Expect for 2021 Victoria Real Estate Market

If you thought COVID 19 was going to devastate the real estate market here in Victoria and across Canada – you were wrong. In fact quite the opposite as fierce competition for detached houses meant back to back record breaking months of prices and sales volume. 

There is no reason to think this won’t continue as we launch into a New Year.

Ultra low interest rates introduced early in the days of the pandemic are making purchasers particularly attractive for first time buyers who haven’t seen their livelihoods jeopardized by COVID 19.

What I’ve felt for several months now is COVID 19 making people appreciate the space they live in – or on the flip side, not appreciate it. A more critical eye is being used by consumers.

This will certainly be the situation for I think Q1 and Q2 of 2021. Looking at the back half of the year we could fall into more seasonal conditions as vaccines roll out.

Sellers – with low inventory – it’s a magical time to put your home up for sale.

Buyers – it’s competitive – stay in close contact with your lender to keep mortgage pre-approvals ready to go.

If you’re looking to learn more on how the current conditions are impacting your real estate position, please just reach out. I’m always free to take your call or email.

All the best for 2021.

2020 – The Final Stretch!

With just a little over 6 weeks to go before we wrap up 2020 I’m sure we can all agree when I say : Bring on 2021 & a vaccine!

First and foremost, I hope you and your immediate and extended families are staying safe during this time. It seems we seem to be going backwards right now and the next 30-90 days could be interesting.

Interesting is certainly one word to use for the way the local Victoria real estate market has been performing. More like Amazing! 

There has been a lot of activity happening, a lot of sales, low inventory, bidding wars, prices rising, lenders offering incredible borrowing rates. It’s the perfect storm coupled with many of us working from home more and more & perhaps this is a long term move.

October was interesting in that we finally saw the condo sector of the market push upwards. There were a lot of condo sales last month which was great to see.

I anticipate we will see the market calm a bit moving forward and that should last into January. Of course much could depend on how COVID 19 levels go.

If you are thinking of buying – stay connected to your lender.

If you are thinking of selling – please reach out – happy to discuss anytime.

June 2020 Review

You’d be hard pressed to know that there is a global pandemic happening based on June 2020 numbers for the Victoria Real Estate Board. I am absolutely stunned to see our stats for this past month.

808 properties sold. That’s up almost 10% from June of 2019. I think we can all agree – no one saw that coming amidst Covid 19.

Here’s my thoughts – we’ve moved into stages 2 & 3 of BC’s re-start plan. I do believe, compared to other jurisdictions, there is a feeling of confidence in how life on Vancouver Island is moving along. Far from out of the woods….but people are feeling good. Couple this with a bit of pent up demand, CMHC changing some of their lending policies as of July 1 & I think you saw a lot of people evaluate what ‘home’ means to them. So much has changed in the last 3-4 months. I think the reality is, many of us will be transitioning to a more home based lifestyle – so consumers became very engaged in the last 4 weeks.

We still have a lower than normal inventory level – coupled with high demand = many scenarios of multiple offers.

Bottom line. As we’ve seen in past times or turmoil – Victoria, much like other provincial capital cities, has found a way to excel.

Inventory for June down 11.3% year over year…but up 6.1% from May 2020.

Single Family Home Benchmark prices up 4% year over year. Condo’s up just shy of 2% year over year.

If you would like more details on your homes value in the current market conditions – please just reach out. I am always happy to chat.

Take care – and continue to be safe, cautious and above all else…happy! Enjoy the Summer months!

Miles

April 2020 Review

The April numbers are in and frankly, they aren’t as bad as I thought from a sales VOLUME perspective and even more encouraging to see that prices held and in some cases actually went up in certain categories. Here’s the market stats for April 2020:

Total # of Sales: 287
Active Listings: 2305
Benchmark Values Home Price Index
Single Family – Victoria Core up 4.6% April 2020 to $882,700. (April 2019 $843,500)
Condo’s – Victoria Core up 3.5% in April 2020 to $530,700 ( April 2019 $512,700)
*Regional Values available. Please reach out to Miles.

I have to say given that we were & still are in a State of Emergency because of COVID 19 & we’ve all been told to stay home unless it’s absolutely necessary – seeing close to 300 sales this month is amazing. It really is. In fact, the last 15 days in April we saw an increase in sales by 45%. We were trending in a pretty bad way for the first couple weeks of April.

So all in all – not a bad month. Clearly, no where near what we would normally see for the month of April – but these are unprecedented times. The world has not seen a pandemic like this for close to 100 years.

Continue to stay well during this crazy, crazy time we are all living in.

March 2020 Review

So much for March coming in like a Lion…more like a very cranky T-Rex!

A lot has changed since March 1st. No schools, No pro sports, No public gatherings, No more toilet paper & so on & so on. Who knew by months end words like “ Self Isolation “ would be new scrabble words.

So what is going with real estate? 

Right now, it is not business as usual despite the government declaring us an essential service.

My colleagues and I are working to ensure that services for clients who need them are delivered in a healthy, safe and secure way. Our industry is working with government stakeholders to make sure that transactions that were underway before the pandemic was declared are protected and that homeowners are able to complete sales and purchases. This is a time to ensure our clients are safeguarded as well as to ensure that our community stays healthy. 

Personally I am using new technologies including video home tours and virtual showings. 

If you need real estate help, I am here to help.

Please check my facebook business page and/or instagram page for a full recap & statistical review of our March numbers here in Victoria or call me directly anytime to chat.

Above all else…stay safe & healthy during these times.

Cheers, 
Miles

Strata Insurance Landscape

Rising insurance premiums & individual deductible premiums are a BIG topic of discussion and a BIG concern.  Unfortunately it’s likely going to take several months for this to settle. It’s been a very tough couple of years for Insurance Companies and even Canada – often seen as a safe haven for Insurance Companies to invest in for their shareholders – has been hit hard with claims. In 2018 alone there was over 4 billion dollars in climate related claims here in Canada ( Fires, Floods, Storms etc… ) This, coupled with suppressed premiums, has led for the rise in costs for strata owners. ( And some home owners too. ) It’s absolutely critical if you live in a strata that you stay on top of all maintenance issues. Do not defer areas that require attention. As an example, if you have hot water tanks nearing the end of their life cycle, replace them. You do not want your building labelled as a “problem building” in the eyes of insurers. As an individual strata unit owner, be sure you have the right insurance for you unit too. The policy for your building should a disaster hit – will only see the replacement of the building to the state that it was first built. So if you have done nice updates to your unit ( flooring, kitchens, baths ) be sure your individual policy reflects this. It will be interesting to see if the BC Gov’t follows Alberta where they cap’d the deductible that could be assessed on an individual to $50,000. I’ll continue to follow this story in the coming months.