The real estate market continues to be red hot in Greater Victoria.
Sandi-Jo Ayers, the president of the Victoria Real Estate Board, said there are multiple offer situations where properties are priced well, and competitively.
“Pent up demand from the spring when people could not go out and look at homes. So we’re seeing that overflow into our fall market and I think the other thing is really fueling it is the low-interest rates,” Ayers said.
That translates into multiple offers on homes in Saanich East, the downtown core, Oak Bay and more and more often, the West Shore and Highlands. With COVID-19 cases surging in the country, Vancouver Island, with a relatively low case count, is benefiting.
“I think it’s just people looking at how B.C. has held the provincial health crisis that is going on here. And people want to live here,” Ayers said.
While 90-percent of the property buyers are from B.C., nine per cent are coming here from other provinces with another one per cent from outside Canada. Many are looking at Victoria as a safe place to be.
Tony Zarsadias, co-owner of The Condo Group, said the pandemic is changing the market.
” I would agree that people look at how well the Island has done, and say, there is less people, less density. It’s going to be a better place for us to live,” Zarsadias said.
But it can make it difficult for those struggling, according to Doug King, executive director of Together Against Poverty.
“Home sales are flourishing whereas the bottom of the spectrum, with people who are surviving and living paycheque to paycheque, it’s just going to be more pain for them,” King said.
READ MORE: Greater Victoria property sales up more than 50% compared to last October
Mary Griffin
