The Victoria real estate market experienced a decent summer for sales in 2013, charting the highest number of combined sales in 4 years. The fall has started out a tad slower. I think that the busy summer was a result of the mortgage rate increases for 5 year terms earlier in the year, and as a result of a large number of buyers being pre-approved for 120 days at the old lower rates, there was a rush to buy. Most of these low pre-approvals ran out by the end of September, so we are now back to real market activity trend.
Overall sales are still following a similar path to the 2012 numbers, but listing inventory is creeping down, and if this trend continues, we should see a more balanced market into 2014. The supply balance is still leaning in favour of the buyers, and there are no signs of this changing for the remainder of this year. Most pundits are still predicting it might take until late 2014, or early 2015 for the economy to improve, and real estate to pick up as well. The long term interest rates have increased significantly in the last 6 months, and this might be a catalyst to further slowdowns in sales over the next year. Again, we will see… Prices seem to be holding tight for now with not much movement, but if your home is slightly over priced, it will not sell.
In the meantime, here a few few links to various real estate sources that may be of interest to you:
– I have just released my latest quarterly newsletter. Click for details: Newsletter
– For the latest historical statistics from the Victoria Real Estate Board, click here: VREBStatistics
– I have a Facebook page which discusses real estate news and listings in the Victoria area. To stay informed, click on this link and hit “like”: VictoriaBCProperties
– Search for listing at my Victoria BC Properties website: DaleSheppard.com
All the best to you and your families throughout the remainder of 2013!
Dale.
