Monday, August 22, 2011

Monday market update: more of the same

MLS numbers courtesy of the VREB via Marko Juras. These numbers are for the Victoria Real Estate Board's reporting area, including Sooke, Shawnigan Lake and the Gulf Islands.

August 2011 (previous week's numbers)
Net Unconditional Sales: 354 [236] (116)
New Listings: 845 [595] (296)
Active Listings: 4,821 [4,843] (4,783)
Sales to new listings ratio: 42% [39%] (39%)

August 2010
Net Unconditional Sales: 425
New Listings: 956
Active Listings: 4,356
Sales to new listings ratio: 47%
Sales to active listings ratio: 9% or 10.25 MOI

Sales have been steady all month at roughly 16 units per day. It's the first time in a long time I can remember where this number hasn't bounced at all from one week to the next. Strange. That said, it's nothing to be happy about if you're trying to make a living charging people commissions to buy and sell real estate. No matter how you look at it, market volume is terrible right now.

Here's a head-scratcher: average reported prices are up, and significantly; single family home average right now is at a record high of $665,000. That's right, your home, if you own one, has increased in value by nearly  13% in just 3 short weeks!*

*No, it hasn't. But such is the misleading "truth" about using averages to report prices from one month to the next. 

12 comments:

a simple man said...

Just stunning (from cbc.ca, RBC says housing affordability is eroding):

"The quarterly report said detached bungalows in Vancouver were especially expensive, with the cost of mortgages payments, utilities and property taxes equivalent to 92.5 per cent of a typical household's monthly income."

Wow. Renting rules.

a simple man said...

New listing on Byron St ($849K) - one of the ten oldest houses in Oak Bay (1892 build). Question is - how much would you pay for a small lot in Poet's Corner?

Russ said...

Zerohedge.com which imho is one of the best financial blogs out there has a great article about the Canadian RE bubble.


http://www.zerohedge.com/news/guest-post-more-insights-mass-psychology-and-canadas-real-estate-obsession

omc said...

greedy flip alert on Avondale. Trying for an entire $350k over purchase is a new record.

HouseHuntVictoria said...

@Russ, that article was written by Ben Rabideaux from the Economic Analyst blog linked on the homepage.

a simple man said...

OMC - That is an expensive flip - I am still waiting for the Sandowne flip - might it break this record?

DavidL said...

Can anyone tell me how much 42 Stoneridge in View Royal (MLS# 296433) sold for and when it sold?

Anonymous said...

DavidL,

42 Stoneridge (built 2002)was on the market for 30 days at an asking price of 569K. Assessment value is 506K. It sold on August 11 for 565K and was purchased by a "greater fool".

DavidL said...

Thanks for the info, JustWatching. I was talking with the seller a month ago ... they were stressed out as they had already purchased a new home in mid-June and were having to pay two mortgages. I'm glad it worked out for the seller - but I agree about the "greater fool" sentiment.

Russ said...

Anybody know how much 980 Ian Street went for? Sorry don't have an mls number

Anonymous said...

Russ,

980 Ian is still marked as active in the VREB database. It may have a conditional offer and the subjects have not been removed or the selling agent has not updated the listing.

This property was initially listed at 569K and is now 539K after 38 DOM.

Leo S said...

Eight out of 10 said they will sell their current home, and 78% said they expect to sell above asking price, compared with 66% in 2010.

What percentage is selling above asking in Victoria now? 5%?

From: Canadians are house hoppers, survey finds