The Neal Estate Team's Victoria Real Estate Update for June 2021

Inventory continued to battle the tide that is massive sales volume in the Victoria area for the month of May 2021. Just as inventory showed hope in April by struggling past the end of month inventory of March, now May's demand (while still remaining near record high for the month), shows a slight possibility of a longer term decline by decreasing 6% in total sales volume compared to the previous month. Unfortunately, the sales decline was not enough to continue the gradual increase in inventory, instead leading to 4 fewer listings at the end of May compared to April.

Some of the sustained energy might be in part due to a last minute scramble to get in before the increase in stress test which came into effect at the beginning of June. Certainly, there was a significant increase in activity before stress test changes in the past. 

Sales for the month, as previously stated, decreased 6% from April to hit 1,049 total sales. Year over year numbers are still somewhat staggering at 129.5% increases compared to May 2020 but to put it in comparison, for our June 2020 Neal Estate Market Update we were writing things like: “ sales volume increased by 59.2% in May 2020 from April. Still well below normal levels”. Specifically, 537 single family homes sold in May, 4.8% less than April, and 325 condos sold, 1.8% less than the previous month.

Inventory is the ongoing struggle that Victorians, and people wishing to become Victorians, will contest with for the foreseeable future. Even if the unprecedented demand eases off, there will always be a deep bench of people who want to live here. Right now, our extremely depressed inventory is leading to upward pressure on price and multiple offers are commonplace. At the end of May, we had 1,450 listings on the market and available to potential buyers (4 less than the previous month), roughly 1.4 months of inventory at today's sales volume. Multiple offer situations will persist until we hit closer to the 2 months inventory and even then we will be a full month of inventory from a balanced market.

Benchmark price (the “average home” in the area) broke the million dollar mark hitting $1,036,100. The increase was 3.9% up from the previous month which is pretty significant for a single month. For an easy example, Condos were up 5.2% over an entire year, hitting $526,000. Benchmark prices are by their nature slightly delayed compared to today's market and we are seeing now, in this metric, increases that have already happened.

We here at The Neal Estate Team are very much looking forward to the prospect of things opening up and getting back to normal (as safely as possible). We are looking forward to getting back to our volunteer, community and client events that have so much made our team what it is today. Until then, we continue destroying pandemic obstacles for our clients, leading to us selling over 30 million dollars of Real Estate in May. And throwback to June 2020 when we sold 1 in every 33 listings in the Victoria area.

If you would like to know how we are beating the market, helping our clients win, and keeping people moving safely, please click Here for a FREE consultation. 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.  

Stay safe,

The Neal Estate Team
Your Victoria & Vancouver Island Real Estate Experts
“Let our experience be your guide
www.RonNeal.com
www.HomesOnVancouverIsland.ca