QUIET HOUSING MARKET CLOSES OUT JULY

The Vancouver Island Real Estate Board (VIREB) recorded 737 unit sales board-wide and 4,559 active listings (all property types) on the MLS® System in July 2024. In the single-family category (excluding acreage and waterfront), 363 homes sold in July, down 11 percent from one year ago and up one percent from June. Sales of condo apartments last month came in at 87, decreasing by nine percent year over year and up six percent from June. In the row/townhouse category, 99 units changed hands in July, up 16 percent from one year ago and nine percent from June.

Active listings of single-family homes were 1,596 in July, up from the 1,092 posted one year ago. VIREB’s inventory of condo apartments was 455 last month, up from 312 in July 2023. There were 342 row/townhouses for sale last month compared to 262 the previous year. With an absorption rate of 16 percent and approximately six months of inventory, the VIREB housing market is in balanced territory and edging slightly towards a buyers’ market.

As VIREB CEO Jason Yochim noted in recent media releases, the market has behaved differently this year. VIREB’s typical spring and summer market never truly launched. Buyers and sellers are both holding back, despite interest rate reductions and higher inventory.

“Inventory has risen considerably, and it’s been five years since active listings in the VIREB area were at this level, so buyers have more choice and more time to wait,” Yochim stated last month. “The same holds true for sellers, so there seems to be a waiting game going on.”

Even a strong local economy isn’t boosting the housing market on Vancouver Island. In its latest Nowcast, the British Columbia Real Estate Association (BCREA) states that strong economic growth continues on the Lower Mainland, on Vancouver Island, and in Northern BC, while the interior economies of the Okanagan and Kootenay lag behind.

Moving on to prices, the board-wide benchmark price (MLS® Home Price Index) of a single-family home was $784,200 in July 2024, up two percent from one year ago and down slightly from June. In the apartment category, the benchmark price was $414,300 last month, up one percent from the previous July and one percent from June. The benchmark price of a townhouse in July was $540,800, down two percent from one year ago and a slight decrease from June.

In Campbell River, the benchmark price of a single-family home was $705,700 last month, up four percent from the previous year. The Comox Valley’s year-over-year benchmark price rose by five percent to $842,100. In the Cowichan Valley, the benchmark price was $775,800, a one percent decrease from July 2023. Nanaimo’s year-over-year benchmark price rose by one percent to reach $815,800, while the Parksville-Qualicum area saw its benchmark price increase by one percent to $899,900. The cost of a benchmark single-family home in Port Alberni was $531,800, up one percent from the previous year. For the North Island, the benchmark price of a single-family home dropped by two percent to $431,300.

(Information courtesy of the Vancouver Island Real Estate Board)