POSITIVE START TO 2025 TEMPERED BY UNCERTAINTY

The Vancouver Island Real Estate Board (VIREB) recorded 434 unit sales and 2,988 active listings (all property types) board-wide on the MLS® System in January 2025, up 26 and five percent, respectively.

In the single-family category (excluding acreage and waterfront), 205 homes sold in January, up 36 percent from one year ago and down 10 percent from December. Sales of condo apartments last month came in at 46, the same number as in January 2024 and up five percent from December. In the row/townhouse category, 43 units changed hands in January, up 10 percent from one year ago and down 26 percent from December.

Active listings of single-family homes were 888 last month, up from the 807 posted one year ago. VIREB’s inventory of condo apartments was 293 last month, up from 258 in January 2024. There were 219 row/townhouses for sale in January compared to 282 the previous year.

VIREB CEO Jason Yochim reports that VIREB’s 2025 housing market had a strong start, with single family detached properties and row/townhouses posting healthy sales increases over last January. Condo sales remained flat, with no change from January 2024.

“REALTORS® are reporting that their phones are ringing, with many clients expressing interest in listing their home this spring,” says Yochim. “The market is stronger than it was last January, so there is a lot of optimism in the air.”

However, the threat of American tariffs looms large. The British Columbia Real Estate Association (BCREA) stated in its latest Market Intelligence Report (click here to read) that a 25 percent tariff on all Canadian imports to the United States would seriously affect the Canadian and B.C. economies. That said, BCREA anticipates that in the most likely scenario, the B.C. housing market would see a temporary
decline in activity before posting a robust recovery as mortgage rates decline substantially, thereby unleashing pent-up demand. Initially set to take effect on February 1, the tariffs are on “pause” for 30 days, according to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who spoke to President Trump yesterday.

Moving on to prices, the board-wide benchmark price (MLS® Home Price Index) of a single-family home was $774,600 in January 2025, up three percent from one year ago. In the apartment category, the benchmark price was $393,600 last month, up one percent from the previous January. The benchmark price of a townhouse last month was $540,000, up slightly from the prior year.

In Campbell River, the benchmark price of a single-family home was $691,900 last month, up four percent from the previous year. The Comox Valley’s year-over-year benchmark price rose by two percent to $827,000. In the Cowichan Valley, the benchmark price was $759,800, up one percent from January 2024. Nanaimo’s year-over-year benchmark price rose by three percent to $813,800, while the
Parksville-Qualicum area saw its benchmark price increase by five percent to $888,200. The cost of a benchmark single-family home in Port Alberni was $523,300, up three percent from the previous year. For the North Island, the benchmark price of a single-family home rose by eight percent to $448,800.

(Press release courtesy of the Vancouver Island Real Estate Board - VIREB)