Victoria’s red-hot real estate market is unlikely to see much change with the introduction of more relaxed pandemic health guidelines.
The pace of the market is expected to remain high and real estate agents are likely to continue to take precautions even though the province has relaxed its guidelines.
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Veteran agent Tony Joe said he and several colleagues intend to continue wearing masks, using sanitizer and pre-qualifying would-be buyers before they shop for new homes.
“That hasn’t changed and probably shouldn’t change,” Joe said, adding no one should expect to see a rash of open houses on weekends just because they are once again allowed.
“If ever there was a time to demonstrate the ineffectiveness of open houses it has been the past 16 months,” he said, noting only a tiny percentage of homes sell as a result of an open house and not having them over the past year and a half has had no ill effect on home sales.
“In many ways, I think it’s time to start thinking about doing things differently now that we have virtual tours and 3-D tours where people already feel they can walk through a house online,” Joe said, adding people can now disqualify themselves from showings by touring online to see if a home suits them or not.
Joe also said having more relaxed rules will do nothing for Victoria’s market, which has only picked up pace over the past 18 months.
“It would be a different story if the market was in the tank and needed a jolt,” he said. “But it’s been busy.”
Numbers released Friday by the Victoria Real Estate Board testify to that. There were 942 properties sold in June, 16.6 per cent more than the 808 properties sold in June 2020.
Condominium sales were up 61.7 per cent from June 2020, with 338 units sold, though the number of single-family homes sold dropped to 440 in June compared with 537 at the same time last year.
This year, the region has seen 5,789 sales of all property types, up from 3,134 through the first six months of last year, and 3,674 in the first six months of 2019.
“We see now even more sales activity than the return to the market we saw last year,” said board president David Langlois. “And our inventory is much more restricted, with more than 1,300 fewer listings for sale than the year previous. We can see the strong impact this shrinking supply has had on year-over-year prices.”
There were 1,375 active listings for sale at the end of June, nearly half of the 2,698 available at the end of June 2020.
The dwindling inventory drove prices up significantly year over year.
The benchmark value for a single-family home in the Victoria core — Victoria, Saanich, Esquimalt, Oak Bay and View Royal — in June was $1,063,500, up from $896,700 at the same time last year. The benchmark value for a condominium in the core is now $531,100, up from $490,400 last June.
“We’re still at a deficit of inventory and, if anything, the demand has increased since the pandemic,” said Joe, who is seeing a lot of interest from Ontario and the Lower Mainland. “We have an inventory problem and it will be like this for some time.”
HALIFAX – A village of tiny homes is set to open next month in a Halifax suburb, the latest project by the provincial government to address homelessness.
Located in Lower Sackville, N.S., the tiny home community will house up to 34 people when the first 26 units open Nov. 4.
Another 35 people are scheduled to move in when construction on another 29 units should be complete in December, under a partnership between the province, the Halifax Regional Municipality, United Way Halifax, The Shaw Group and Dexter Construction.
The province invested $9.4 million to build the village and will contribute $935,000 annually for operating costs.
Residents have been chosen from a list of people experiencing homelessness maintained by the Affordable Housing Association of Nova Scotia.
They will pay rent that is tied to their income for a unit that is fully furnished with a private bathroom, shower and a kitchen equipped with a cooktop, small fridge and microwave.
The Atlantic Community Shelters Society will also provide support to residents, ranging from counselling and mental health supports to employment and educational services.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 24, 2024.
Housing affordability is a key issue in the provincial election campaign in British Columbia, particularly in major centres.
Here are some statistics about housing in B.C. from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation’s 2024 Rental Market Report, issued in January, and the B.C. Real Estate Association’s August 2024 report.
Average residential home price in B.C.: $938,500
Average price in greater Vancouver (2024 year to date): $1,304,438
Average price in greater Victoria (2024 year to date): $979,103
Average price in the Okanagan (2024 year to date): $748,015
Average two-bedroom purpose-built rental in Vancouver: $2,181
Average two-bedroom purpose-built rental in Victoria: $1,839
Average two-bedroom purpose-built rental in Canada: $1,359
Rental vacancy rate in Vancouver: 0.9 per cent
How much more do new renters in Vancouver pay compared with renters who have occupied their home for at least a year: 27 per cent
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 17, 2024.
VANCOUVER – Voters along the south coast of British Columbia who have not cast their ballots yet will have to contend with heavy rain and high winds from an incoming atmospheric river weather system on election day.
Environment Canada says the weather system will bring prolonged heavy rain to Metro Vancouver, the Sunshine Coast, Fraser Valley, Howe Sound, Whistler and Vancouver Island starting Friday.
The agency says strong winds with gusts up to 80 kilometres an hour will also develop on Saturday — the day thousands are expected to go to the polls across B.C. — in parts of Vancouver Island and Metro Vancouver.
Wednesday was the last day for advance voting, which started on Oct. 10.
More than 180,000 voters cast their votes Wednesday — the most ever on an advance voting day in B.C., beating the record set just days earlier on Oct. 10 of more than 170,000 votes.
Environment Canada says voters in the area of the atmospheric river can expect around 70 millimetres of precipitation generally and up to 100 millimetres along the coastal mountains, while parts of Vancouver Island could see as much as 200 millimetres of rainfall for the weekend.
An atmospheric river system in November 2021 created severe flooding and landslides that at one point severed most rail links between Vancouver’s port and the rest of Canada while inundating communities in the Fraser Valley and B.C. Interior.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 17, 2024.
