Greater Victoria house prices are spiking even more as a result of low inventory and high demand, leaving slim pickings for those looking for a place to call home.
“A balanced market is roughly 2,500 residential listing in all of Greater Victoria. That includes out to Sooke, Malahat, Peninsula and the Gulf Islands, and currently, we have about 918,” Neil Bosdet, a realtor with Royal LePage in Greater Victoria, told CHEK News.
It’s a concerning situation and according to a new house price survey that was just published by Royal LePage, the aggregate price of a home in Greater Victoria increased 27.7 per cent year-over-year to $957,400 in the third quarter of 2021 while the aggregate price of a home in Canada increased 21.4 per cent year-over-year to $749,800 in the third quarter of 2021.
The survey also shows that during that same period, the median price of a single-family detached home is now worth $1,135,700, jumping 34 per cent while the median price of a condominium increased 24 per cent to $472,000.
“The result of the pandemic and people working from home in very very big numbers, people are moving and relocating to locations that they prefer to be but maintaining their jobs from a distance and that’s driving people to Victoria,” says Bosdet.
According to a recent Stats Canada report, British Columbia saw the largest increase in inter-provincial migration nationally in 2020 and 2021, welcoming more than 34,000 people from out of province.
“Victoria is an absolute destination city, more so than ever with the pandemic. The Island did quite well arguably during COVID and that’s been noticed,” Bosdet says, adding that one-third of his clients are buyers from outside the region.
The ongoing lack of supply coupled with rising prices isn’t exclusive to Greater Victoria, but it is perhaps, more chronic than anywhere else in B.C.
“Every listing in B.C. there were three buyers this spring market, but that stat got further expanded to the worst competition, which was in Greater Victoria. For every listing, there were nine buyers and that is an example of how difficult it is for buyers out there,” said Bosdet.
Royal LePage is forecasting that prices in the region will rise as much as 16 per cent by the end of the year.
Hannah Lepine
