For around $1 million, you could get a waterfront home with an in-ground pool in Quebe or a 6,000 square-foot luxury home complete with a spiral staircase in Alberta.
In Manitoba, that much money can get you a timber-frame home sitting on more than two acres of riverfront.
But in Victoria, $1-million doesn’t get nearly as much. Just recently, an 800 square foot century-old home, possibly a teardown, sold for $950,000 — well over the asking price.
It’s not an uncommon scenario these days.
According to Greater Victoria Real Estate Board statistics, the median house price in Greater Victoria in January was $975,000 and the average price hit a new all-time of $1.22 million, partially due to a rise in luxury home sales.
“So that end of the market is very active and it’s putting upward pressure on any average pricing numbers you might be seeing out there,” said Greater Victoria Real Estate Board president David Langlois.
“Certainly it’s an eye-popping average price when we see single-family homes clearing $1.2 million, it’s very remarkable,” he said.
Langlois says the majority of buyers have been locals but there has been an increase in buyers from elsewhere in B.C. and across Canada.
And a lack of supply and huge demand is pushing prices up right across Vancouver Island.
READ MORE: Real estate sales north of the Malahat climb to unprecedented levels
“Every single market in the Island is hot right now, Nanaimo is hot, Campbell River is hot, Courtenay is hot, so there is no place that is considered to be slow per se when we look at the market as a whole,” Langlois said.
And the number of sales also broke records this January, up 57 per cent from January 2020.
Langlois says the pandemic may be one of the driving factors.
“If the only place you can be is at home then what that home is, is that much more important, so there’s renewed interest and increasing interest in all areas of our market.”
According to Greater Victoria Real Estate Board statistics, the median house price in Greater Victoria in January was $975,000 and the average price hit a new all-time of $1.22 million, partially due to a rise in luxury home sales. (CHEK News)
April Lawrence
