According to the Victoria Real Estate Board (VREB), the housing market remains steady for buyers and sellers with 650 properties being sold in July alone.
This is a 9.2% increase from last year with just 595 properties being sold in July 2023.
VREB says that currently, as per the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) Home Price Index, the average price of a single family home is just below $1.3 million.
Additionally, the average condo is going for around $567,000 and townhomes are approximately $856,700.
“The month of July delivered another steady month of sales and listings, as we’d expect for an average summer season in our market,” said Laurie Lidstone, VREB Chair.
“The sales in July tracked very closely to June numbers, which may have surprised some who expected that summer vacations would take more buyers out of the market.”
Lidstone added that there was a slight inventory shrink from June to July, but this is not unusual for this time of year.
VREB says they will keep an eye on this trend because inventory is a critical component of a balanced market.
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According to VREB, there were 3,348 active listings for sale on their MLS at the end of July 2024, which represents a decrease of 3.2% compared to the previous month of June and a 38.4% increase from the 2,419 active listings for sale at the end of July 2023.
“There continues to be a lot of government intervention in our housing market,” continued Lidstone.
“Recently, the provincial government announced changes to the Residential Tenancy Act that have resulted in some uncertainty for those considering homes with rental options. The changes have made an already complex transaction much more complicated and have added more risk.”
The changes Lidstone is referring to was the change that allowed renters occupying a home that is sold up to four months notice before they must vacate the home.
However, just this week, the BC government altered this legislation amendment to be just three months’ notice, rather than four.
