The Neal Estate Team's Real Estate Market Update for Victoria for February 2022

As of mid-February (and Reviewing January), sales in Victoria are slower than they were this time last year but mainly due to the severely lacking inventory. Single-family home sales have decreased the most (compared to condos), which does make sense as that particular segment continues to be the tightest availability-wise. Despite the general “slowness”, it is still absolutely a HOT MARKET and it doesn’t seem as though there is any great news for buyers just yet. Most, as in well over half, of single-family homes are selling over asking price with multiple offers, and inventory, as stated, is still severely lacking. Further, as of Feb 15th, we are tracking for a decrease in new listings compared to February last year. With last year already taking the record for low inventory… right up until this year came around.

January By the Numbers had 8.2% fewer Sales than December with a grand total of 474 sales. Of those 474 sales, 179 sales were single-family homes and 188 were condos. Single-family home sales were down 39.7% annually and condos were down 13% in the same time period. Inventory did manage to creep up a very nice 14.1% in January with 744 listings available at the end of the month, -which is still super low-. Now as of February 15th we are just breaking 800. Even with our marginal increase, we are still a far cry from the end of January 2021’s 1,321 active listings and further still from a balanced market (otherwise known as inventory = 6 months of sales).

Considering Price, the “average” single-family home has risen roughly $19,000 a month for the last 12 months and the average condo roughly $8,300/m. The benchmark price for a single-family home in Victoria right now is $1,161,500 and condos are at $587,300 each having increased annually and from last month. 

Looking Forward, to the near and midrange future of the Victoria Real Estate Market, we will see many new actors on the scene soon. First, it appears that interest rates will indeed be rising and now it is just a question of by how much and over what period of time. How will this affect affordability for buyers or homeowners who are highly leveraged? At best, probably price stagnation. If there are indeed any price reversals in the short term (without slow organic addition to inventory) it is probably a pretty bad sign for the economy at large, and as inflation seems to be going for a run, homeowners who just purchased or are highly leveraged might find it hard to keep up. It is unlikely the powers that be will allow for that outcome at this time. The second new actor will be “the cooling-off period” which is new legislation that will allow buyers to pull out within a certain period of time after an offer, even if unconditional. Given the level of competition (the commonplaceness of multiple offers), it will be interesting to see how giving buyers the power to act on cold feet and or tie up the property will shake up the game. 

January's Highlight for The Neal Estate Group was the opportunity to represent our clients in one of every 30 Victoria sales in the first 31 days of the year. As well we received over 50 client and community 5-star reviews on Google, bringing us over 300 total. We also took some time to review our personal stats from 2021. We are proud to report that we sold our listings for a combined VREB average of 3% over the asking price (with over 20 properties 10% over ask price) and with an average of 21 days on the market. North of Victoria, in the VIREB market, we sold an average of 7% above listing price averaging 17 days on the market. Why work with us? Easy. We sell faster and for more!

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.

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