April 2021

Bank of Canada Interest Rate Announcement - April 21, 2021

First-Time Home Buyer Approved

This bright top floor, 1 bedroom, 1 bathroom, well-maintained condo radiates a bright and airy feeling with natural light beaming through the skylight, open concept living space, and tasteful color tones throughout.

It features an updated and modern kitchen, brand-new dishwasher, in-suite stackable washer/dryer, and a walk-through closet from the master bedroom to the updated bathroom.

The west-facing over-sized balcony with 2 sliding doors, one in the bedroom and the other in the living area, is perfect for having your morning coffee or afternoon barbecues.

The bonus is the underground secure parking stall, storage room, and bicycle area.

The location is dynamite for the commuter. Walking

Acreage Estate in Prestigious Cordova Bay

Welcome to 851 Sayward Road, an acreage estate in prestigious Cordova Bay a seaside community with gorgeous beaches lakes golf courses quaint restaurants farmers markets, and more. 

The sprawling dead flat usable lot is extremely private yet still open to offer maximum sun exposure and natural light. 

The main residence was meticulously renovated and redesigned to create a large open living space with soaring ceilings and large Pella windows.

The chef's kitchen features custom cabinetry, marble countertops and top of the line appliances, and even a large island with a motorized retractable television mount. 

Just off the kitchen are a cozy family room, a large laundry room, and a

Canadian Housing Starts (March) - April 19, 2021

Canadian housing starts increased 21.6% m/m to 335,200k units in March at a seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR), after declining in February. Building activity was up month-over-month in both multi-unit (+34%) and single-detached (+4%) segments. On a year-over-year basis, starts were up 70%, though this measure will become quite distorted by base-year effects going forward as we compare to the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. The six-month moving average in Canadian housing starts stands at a very strong 273,664 units SAAR. 

In BC, housing starts increased by 57% m/m to a record high 71.2K units SAAR, following an increase of 21% in the previous month. That remarkable jump in new home

Split level home in a highly sought-after Saanich area

Welcome to 4271 Shelbourne Street, this recently updated 5 bedroom, split level home in a highly sought-after Saanich area only minutes from UVIC and all levels of excellent schools.  

Terrific family home or income-producing property. 

The inline living-dining room includes a wood-burning fireplace to cozy up to, generous sized kitchen with an eating area with sliding glass doors leading to a large deck overlooking the private backyard.

Upstairs are three generous-sized bedrooms with primary having its own ensuite and patio doors to the deck. 

Downstairs the opportunities are endless: set up as a two-bedroom in-law suite with separate entrance or can be used as three

Record-Setting Month for BC Homes Sales

Vancouver, BC – April 13, 2021. The British Columbia Real Estate Association (BCREA) reports that a total of 15,073 residential unit sales were recorded by the Multiple Listing Service® (MLS®) in March 2021, an increase of 123.3 per cent over March 2020 and a new all-time record for monthly BC home sales. The average MLS® residential price in BC was $947,707, a 20.4 per cent increase from $787,032 recorded in March 2020. It should be noted that average prices across the province are being skewed higher as more expensive single-detached homes remain a higher share of dollar volume during the pandemic. Total sales dollar volume was $14.3 billion, a 168.9 per cent increase from last year.

“Home sales

Canadian Employment (March) - April 9, 2021

Canadian employment gained 303K jobs in March (1.6%, m/m), bringing total employment to within 1.5% or 296K jobs of its pre-pandemic level from February 2020. Both part-time employment with full-time employment contributed to the gains in March, rising by 128K and 175K jobs respectively.  The national unemployment rate decreased by 0.7 percentage points to 7.5%, which is the lowest rate since February 2020. 

In BC, employment grew by 35k (+1.3%, m/m) in March. The unemployment rate decreased from held steady at 6.9%, which is the lowest rate the province has recorded since February 2020. Meanwhile, in Vancouver, employment increased by 32.3k (+2.2%,m/m), following a rise of 13.9k in the

Bright Sun-Filled Open Concept Living Space

Welcome to 10112 Tsaykum Road in beautiful North Saanich, only steps to breathtaking beaches and parks.

This is a cedar-sided Arts & Crafts three-bedroom, 2 1/2 bathroom home with ocean views and space to grow.

From the moment you enter, you will appreciate the high-end finishing with 9-foot ceilings on the main, hardwood maple floors, and extra-wide crown moldings.

Bright sun-filled open concept living space with gas fireplace and connected dining room featuring large wood-framed windows and patio door overlooking your fully fenced garden oasis, huge cedar deck, and shady pergola.

The kitchen is truly delightful with granite countertops and stainless steel appliances.

Enjoy your

The Victoria Real Estate market kept right on trend with the recent era of the covid housing rush, but with a little injection of the spring market. Speaking of “this era” of covid, we are just now heading into the one full year stretch since the beginning of covid, the beginning era having a very different effect on the housing market than our current one. Remember the whole reason for the beginning of this boom was “pent up demand”, well now we are headed into the one year mark from when that demand was being pent up. The outcome of this is that our year-over-year comparisons are going to start to become less meaningful. While March to March is the start of the weird numbers, April 2020 is when there were really low lows.

March 2021 saw 1,173 total

Inventory in the Vancouver Island Real Estate Board area actually increased and increased significantly (29% up from February for both single-family homes and townhomes), but still sat at record lows overall. Condos did not increase much, with only 2 more listings active at the end of March compared to the end of February in that segment. The breakdown of property type and listings available at the end of March was: Single-family homes had 508 listings, condos had 171 units available, and townhomes came in at 117. While the increases in inventory is a really good sign, we are still deep into a seller’s market and still in the midst of a deeply depressed inventory.

Part of the reason that the seller’s market isn’t going to change quickly is because of