The Neal Estate Group's Real Estate Market Update for Victoria for July 2022

Reviewing June and July to date in the Victoria Real Estate Market we see that the previously red hot sales have continued to stumble in a big way while inventory used the cooler climate to grow. The increasing inventory is great news for buyers, presenting more options and greatly reducing the occurrence of multiple offer bidding and properties selling over ask. That being said, inventory is still well below historical levels and any attempt at long-term stability will need to involve new housing products matching the pace of population growth. The more relaxed market conditions are mostly a result of a huge change on the demand side. Sales in June were way down and July has continued that trend. While the change in the market is refreshing for many, it is worth considering that the demand side is subject to quick change factors such as financing rates or government policy. On the other hand, inventory is slower to react and is often a better indicator of long-term conditions.

Getting into the numbers, as of July 18th we are averaging 15.8 sales per day in the Victoria Board region compared to 26.6 sales per day in July last year. This fairly significant decrease in sales volume is a continuation of June in which there was a total of 612 sales which was 35% less than June the previous year and 19.6% less than the previous month. In June, 202 of those sales were condos and 302 were single-family homes, down 40.02% and 31.4% respectively.

Looking at the sell/list ratio, it looks like condos are still facing the most pressure with a 56% sell/list ratio compared to 44% for single-family homes and 49% for townhomes.

As for inventory, there is some speculation that new listings could slow as potential sellers transition into summer mode but as of July 18th, we are averaging 35 new listings a day which is about 11% better than July last year. Currently, we are sitting at 2,141 new listings and we ended June with 2,059. At the close of June inventory had increased 15.9% in a one-month period and 49.7% in a 12-month period.

Considering price, despite the doom and gloom about housing prices from many news sources across Canada, Victoria and the Island have remained mostly isolated from any big price shake-ups. In fact, price changes are even neighborhood dependant at the moment with some neighborhoods having dipped and already recovered. Of course, things can always change and sometimes certain phenomena take a good long while to make it all the way to our coast… Our current market conditions are much closer to a balanced market and flat or slightly decreasing prices rather than a heavy buyers market. Again, it could be a different picture in a few months' time. Benchmark prices, which always lag somewhat, are still rising and the benchmark price for a single-family home in June hit $1,464,400, up 23% from last year and a bit from May. Condos hit $643,100, up from $633,800 in May and 29.7% from last year.

While many Realtors in Victoria cut back their business in the face of falling sales volumes, The Neal Estate Group increase our market share, and our “average agent” outperformed “the average VREB agent” by about 70% (YTD). It appears our experience and professional services have a compounding effect, the more we have the more we get, allowing us to continually increase our performance for our clients.

Click Here for a FREE consultation or call 250-386-8181. Find new listings before they get to MLS and ask us about featuring your home on VictoriaComingSoonListings.com, where we generate interest while you're getting ready to come to market. Ask us also about our FREE Staging Consultation for advice on preparing your home in its best light for the market, ensuring you the best results.