Seniors Leaving Vancouver to Take Advantage of Housing Market

According to the Globe and Mail published Sunday, May 21st, Baby Boomers are cashing out with their real estate boon and leaving the Greater Vancouver region in high numbers.  In the tides of people arriving in Vancouver and the tides of people leaving, there has been a net loss of around 3,385 Boomers according to an analysis by University of British Columbia sociology professor Nathanael Lauster.

“It means less people for volunteering, less people supporting arts-and-culture institutions,” says Penny Gurstein, director of UBC’s school of community and regional planning. “Look at the opera now in Vancouver: there just aren’t enough people in that cohort to support it.”
While young people are arriving in droves, the region is losing a lot of people with job, life, and community experience.

Read the full article HERE

2017 April Market Report by Frank Rudge, Remax Real Estate in Victoria, BC

Is the Victoria Real Estate Market Overheated?

CMHC Senior Market Analyst Eric Bond calls Victoria’s Real Estate market “Overheated”. In his opinion, the city of is facing a housing affordability crisis, with the average price of a home reaching $640,802 in March, up 11.3 per cent compared to March 2016. Put another way, the first quarter of 2017 saw the average price for a single-detached home increase by 19 per cent as compared to the same quarter last year.

The Victoria Real Estate Board reported the Multiple Listing Service® Home Price Index benchmark value for a single family home in the Victoria Core in March was $790,100 -  a 19.1 per cent increase from March 2016.

Despite the presence of strong market fundamentals like employment growth, increased population driven by younger demographics and low mortgage rates, CMHC doesn’t think the market’s price acceleration can be justified by these factors alone.

To assess the states of the housing markets, CMHC looks at four factors. 

To find out more, CLICK HERE

Real Estate Inventory in Victoria Edging Up... A Little

May 1, 2017 - “The numbers we saw in April are a further indication that the market is gradually moving towards a more balanced state compared to the record setting pace of 2016.” says 2017 Board President Ara Balabanian.

A total of 885 properties sold in the Victoria Real Estate Board region this April*, 31.2 per cent fewer than the 1,286 properties sold in April last year. The ten year average for sales in April is 772 properties.

“We are starting to see hints of a more traditional spring market. Local agricultural production has been delayed due to the late spring, and so has the local real estate market,” adds President Balabanian, “More sellers listed their homes for sale over the month of April compared to the month previous.”

There were 1,690 active listings for sale on the Victoria Real Estate Board Multiple Listing Service® at the end of April 2017, an increase of 8.6 per cent compared to the month of March, but 34.8 per cent fewer than the 2,594 active listings for sale at the end of April 2016.

* Properties sold in the Victoria Real Estate Board region includes the southern tip of Vancouver Island up to just south of Cowichan Bay, the Peninsula, the Western Communities along with Salt Spring, Pender, Saturna, Mayne and Gailiano Islands. See map.

If you are interested in reading the full VREB’s report online, CLICK HERE.