Victoria Real Estate Market continues 2014’s upward trend February 2, 2015, Victoria BC – The Victoria Real Estate Board today released its report on real estate activity in the Victoria area for January 2015. 351 properties sold in the Victoria region this January, an increase of 2.6% when compared to the 342 properties sold in the same month last year. “We don’t expect to see big numbers in January. It’s a slower month traditionally for real estate,” Victoria Real Estate Board President Guy Crozier says. “Even this slight increase after the 11.67% year over year increase in sales we saw in 2014 shows the continued stability of our market. There’s also a good balance of inventory available for sale, which will likely appeal to buyers as the spring season hits. Last month while we saw 10 single family homes sold for over a million dollars, there were also 95 homes sold for under $500,000.” At the end of January there were 3,283 active listings for sale on the Multiple Listing Service®, a slight decrease from the 3,489 in January 2014. This continues a trend that started in mid-2013 where there are fewer listings in the market than there were in the same month of the year previous. The Multiple Listing Service® Home Price Index benchmark value for a single family home in the Victoria Core this time last year was $548,500. The benchmark value for the same home this month has increased by 2.39% to $561,600. “With the change in mortgage rates surprising some, and the continuing low oil prices and Canadian dollar, the spring real estate market should be an interesting one to watch,” Crozier adds. Victoria Real Estate Board President Guy Crozier is available for comment. More information on the January 2014 report and the Multiple Listing Service® Home Price Index is available from the Victoria Real Estate Board, www.vreb.org. About VREB – Founded in 1921, the Victoria Real Estate Board is a key player in the development of standards and innovative programs to enhance the professionalism of REALTORS®. The Victoria Real Estate Board represents approximately 1,200 local REALTORS®. Contact: Denise Hogue, communications manager - [email protected], 250 920-4652 January 2015 Statistics Package for Media Previous PeriodsofComparison of Unit Sales, Prices and Median Prices January 2 ious Periods Comparison Unit Sales, Average PricesAverage and Median Prices February 01, 2015 Sales by Property Type Single Family Greater Victoria This Month Last Month 2015 - January 2014 - December This Month Last Year 2014 - January Units LM% LY% Average$ LM% LY% Median$ LM% LY% Units Average$ Median$ Units Average$ Median$ 162 -10.5% -4.1% $564,118 -2.6% -3.5% $510,000 -2.9% -6.3% 181 $579,093 $525,000 169 $584,645 $544,000 Single Family Other Areas 26 23.8% 8.3% $508,385 -8.8% -17.0% $440,000 10.0% 1.9% 21 $557,395 $400,000 24 $612,231 $432,000 188 -6.9% -2.6% $556,410 -3.5% -5.4% $488,475 -6.2% -8.7% 202 $576,837 $521,000 193 $588,076 $534,912 Condos 90 -4.3% -2.2% $356,520 -8.0% 8.7% $264,950 -10.5% -1.7% 94 $387,676 $296,000 92 $328,130 $269,500 Townhouses 38 -7.3% 26.7% $402,404 -9.9% -15.0% $365,000 -11.0% -24.5% 41 $446,768 $410,000 30 $473,607 $483,500 9 0.0% 0.0% $110,222 -11.0% -12.3% $100,000 -16.7% -18.9% 9 $123,778 $120,000 9 $125,694 $123,250 Total Residential 325 -6.1% 0.3% 346 324 Total Sales 351 -9.8% 2.6% 389 342 3,283 2.3% -5.9% 3,210 3,489 Single Family Total All Areas Manufactured Homes Active Listings Legend Units: net number of listings sold LM%: percentage change since Last Month LY%: percentage change since This Month Last Year Average$: average selling price Median$: median selling price Active Listings: total listings on the market at midnight on the last day of the month Previous Periods Comparison of MLS® HPI Benchmark Prices and MLS® HPI Index Values PreviousPeriodsComparisonofMLS®HPIBenchmarkPricesandMLS®HPIIndexValues CommonlyQuotedBenchmarkHome SingleFamilyBenchmarkHome:GreaterVictoria SingleFamilyBenchmarkHome:Core SingleFamilyBenchmarkHome:Westshore SingleFamilyBenchmarkHome:Peninsula CondoBenchmarkHome:GreaterVictoria TownhouseBenchmarkHome:GreaterVictoria Legend Victoria Real Estate Board January2015 Benchmark Price $486,000 $561,600 $405,000 $522,500 $287,600 $401,200 December January2014 January2015 December January2014 LM% 2014 Benchmark IndexValue 2014Index IndexValue Benchmark Price Value $477,400 $470,100 140.1 137.6 135.5 1.8% $560,900 $548,500 145.8 145.6 142.4 0.1% $402,600 $403,500 132.2 131.4 131.7 0.6% $526,700 $499,400 135.8 136.9 129.8 Ͳ0.8% $287,200 $401,400 CurrentMonth: LastMonth: LastYear: LM%: LY%: $276,700 $398,000 142.3 138.5 142.1 138.6 136.9 137.4 0.1% 0.0% LY% 3.4% 2.4% 0.4% 4.6% 3.9% 0.8% January2015 December2014 January2014 Percentagechangebetweencurrentmonthandlastmonth Percentagechangebetweencurrentmonthandsamemonthlastyear January 2015 statistics Total new MLS® listings and total MLS® sales for entire district Sales to Active Listings Ratio 24% 22% 20% 18% 16% 14% 12% 10% 8% 6% 4% Jan 2015 Dec 2014 Nov 2014 Oct 2014 Sep 2014 Aug 2014 Jul 2014 Jun 2014 May 2014 Apr 2014 Mar 2014 Feb 2014 Jan 2014 Dec 2013 Nov 2013 Oct 2013 Sep 2013 Aug 2013 Jul 2013 Jun 2013 May 2013 Apr 2013 Mar 2013 Feb 2013 Jan 2013 Balanced Market The active listing count and the sales count can be viewed as indicators of housing supply and demand respectively. Observing the ratio between them can thus help indicate a "buyers' market", where there is downward pressure on prices, and a "sellers' market", where there is upward pressure on prices. - below 10%, there is downward pressure on prices (buyers' market) - above 25%, there is upward pressure on prices (sellers' market) - in the 15-20% range, there is little pressure on prices either way (balanced market) Victoria Real Estate Board January 2015 statistics MLS® HPI benchmark and value - Single Family Homes The Victoria Real Estate Board uses the MLS® Home Price Index (MLS® HPI) to report on property values. The MLS® HPI uses the concept of a benchmark home, a notional home with common attributes of typical homes in a defined area. Through the analysis of ten years of Victoria Real Estate Board MLS® sales data, the MLS® HPI defined benchmark homes for Victoria in each category (single family homes, townhouses, condos) and for each neighbourhood. The benchmark starting point was 2005, where each type of property and neighbourhood was assigned an index value of 100. Victoria Real Estate Board January 2015 statistics