It’s still a mix of highs and lows for Greater Victoria home buyers and sellers.
The Victoria Real Estate Board (VREB) is reflecting on February 2022, pointing to record-low inventory preventing the local real estate market from cooling off.
Last month, 718 properties sold in the region – 16.8% fewer than in February 2021, but nearly 52% more than in January 2021, according to the Multiple Listing Service (MLS).
The latter stat was “heartening” for VREB president Karen Dinnie-Smyth.
Still, as low inventory plagues BC’s capital “without a strong government focus on increasing supply,” she says buyers will “continue to face escalating prices and difficult market conditions.”
According to the board, the MLS Home Price Index benchmark price for a single-family home in February jumped 29.1% year-over-year, hitting $1,109,400.
Meanwhile, the benchmark price for a condominium hit $597,700 last month, up from January’s $587,000 and climbing just over 22.6% when compared with February 2021.
The VREB is hoping the region’s real estate market will find its balance, explains Dinnie-Smyth, as it calls on the government for solid solutions to create supply.
It’s a plea that follows the board seeing 849 active listings for sale at the end of February – a 14.1% increase from the month prior but 35.6% less than in February 2021.
“We need incentives for gentle densification and the removal of municipal barriers to development,” added Dinnie-Smyth.
