WATCH: The cost of living in Greater Victoria is rising once again. New numbers show the average price of a single-family home has now topped $900,000. Luisa Alvarez reports how it’s all putting pressure on people trying to enter the market.
According to the real estate numbers for November $900,000 is the average price for a home in Victoria, but prices weren’t the only thing on the rise. For the first time in approximately a year, November showed a spike in sales.
“We think that a lot of that was people trying to buy before the new stress test comes into effect in January,” said Preferred Homes Realtor Mark Roozendaal.
As the housing market is driven by supply and demand, it’s clear that there is no shortage of that here in the Victoria.
“We simply don’t have enough homes, it’s not only about affordable housing which is what the municipalities like to talk about, it’s about housing, in general, we are not building enough homes for the number of people that are moving to our region,” said Roozendaal.
Although the new mortgage rules will likely take out some buyers from the market experts warn not to expect prices to drop.
“There are a lot of people that are always moving to Victoria who are not really affected by what the mortgage rates are or by the stress test because it’s not a factor for them, but it is going to hurt some people who are local who really want to buy a better home for their family that are not going to be able to get that home that they want now,” said Roozendaal.
But nobody knows the future, so as for the actual long-term impact the stress test will have on the hot housing market that is Victoria, we will just have to wait and see.
Luisa Alvarez
