December’s real estate sales in Greater Victoria marked the seventh month in a row of dropping sales.
A total of 329 properties changed hands in December, down by 16.5 per cent from November when 394 properties were sold.
Year-over-year saw last month’s sale squeak by the 320 sales of December 2022.
The past year saw a 6,207 properties sold — an 8.7 per cent decline from the 6,804 sold in 2022.
“The single biggest impact on the housing market this year was interest rates,” Victoria Real Estate Board board chair Graden Sol said Tuesday.
“The increased cost of borrowing money meant that consumers had less purchasing power, which resulted in a drop in transactions.”
Even so, a “huge demand” remains for housing in Greater Victoria, Sol said.
“As we move forward into 2024 and beyond, we need to continue to put focus on the creation of new supply so that as market activity increases, prices don’t increase as quickly.
“The only way to moderate housing prices is to bring supply closer to meeting demand.”
The capital region’s real estate market reflected expectations for a slow December for sales and for new listings, Sol said.
This illustrates a return to traditional seasonal patterns, he said. “If this continues into 2024, we should see more inventory added in January and February and an increase in sales as consumers prepare for the spring market.”
At the end of December, there were 2,132 active listings through the board’s multiple listing service. That’s a drop of 19.4 per cent compared to November but an increase of 26.3 per cent from the 1,688 listings seen in December 2022.
The benchmark price for a single family home in the region’s core (Saanich, Victoria, Oak Bay, Esquimalt and View Royal) was $1.268 million last month. A year earlier, it was slightly lower at $1.236 million.
The benchmark for a condominium in the core was $562,000 last month, down from $565,800 in December 2022.
The total value of the 329 sales last month was $303.56 million.
