Category: Real Estate Updates

Explaining Changes in Real Estate in BC and How They Can Affect You. There is never a shortage of news articles relating to Real Estate in Canada, especially these days. In the effort to curb rising home prices and provide homes for all Canadians, Legislative changes have been made.

In this market intelligence report, we will cover our local market, the general trend across Canada as well as interest rates and consumer confidence.

In October Nanaimo saw a month over month increase in sales in the single family detached and townhouse markets. Part of this increase in sales is from buyers who were looking to capitalize on their fixed rate mortgage pre-approvals before they were affected by the interest rate increases. While the number of sales increased month over month, the amount of new listings on the market in October also increased meaning that there was a minimal impact on the months of inventory.

September saw a further decrease in the average home price in Nanaimo. September’s average single family home price was $801,021 – a decrease of 9.1% from August of 2022, and a decrease of 3.7% from September of last year. There are a few factors at play that have caused this decrease in average sale price, the biggest of which being the shift in supply and demand.

The average sale price for August increased from the month of July. Part of this increase is due to less properties being listed for sale. July saw 223 new property listings whereas August saw 155. This makes it seem that July was an anomaly month where home prices were affected more by overwhelming inventory at the same time that demand started to decrease.

VIREB’s market statistics for July 2022 in the Nanaimo real estate market shows inventory has increased over 60% from July of 2021, while demand has decreased by over 40%.

VIREB’s June statistics have been released! June was the first month in a year and a half that the sale to list price ratio has dipped below 100%

For the second consecutive month the average home price in Nanaimo has decreased.

Gillette & Associates review of VIREB’s March market statistics

Today the Bank of Canada raised the overnight rate by .25%, bringing the rate to .5%. While this is still low compared to rates in Canada in previous years, there is an expectation of a market shift. The last time that rates increased from .25% to .5% was June of 2010. At that time, the rate dropped to .25% in June of 2019 and stayed there for a year. In today’s market, we have been in a holding pattern with a rate of .25% since April of 2020, meaning that we have had almost 2 full years at the lowest interest rate.