Real estate sales in are down almost 19 per cent for July compared to the same month last year but the Victoria real estate market continues to be brisk, says a report from the Victoria Real Estate Board that came out on Tuesday.
Any slow down is normal behaviour in the summer months, said VREB President Ara Balabanian, and the current pace is as expected.
The trend of multiple offers continues to apply to anything listed around $700,000 or less.
“This July, we saw a strong focus on the lower priced end of the market, with condos and townhomes and single family homes listed for under $700,000 in high demand,” Balbanian said.
A total of 790 properties sold in the Victoria Real Estate Board region this July, 18.7 per cent fewer than the 972 properties sold in July last year.
The surprise has been the low inventory levels, Balbanian added, with listings consistently below the 2,000-mark throughout Greater Victoria.
“The 10 year average for sales in July is just over 700 properties,” added Balabanian. “So the numbers from last month illustrate an ongoing demand for homes in Victoria. We anticipated at the beginning of the year that we would see another busy market - without the record breaking numbers we saw in 2016 – and we are seeing exactly that.”
The good news is that compared to the start of the year we have 26.7 per cent more listings on the market, but that supply is still lower than we expected, which puts pressure on pricing and availability.”
There were 1,921 active listings as of July 31, an increase of 0.3 per cent compared to June. but 11 per cent fewer than the 2,161 active listings for sale at the end of July 2016.