The number of property sales in the capital region during March hit an all-time high for any month recorded in the local real estate board’s database, which dates back to 1990.
A total of 1,121 properties of all types sold through the Victoria Real Estate Board’s Multiple Listing Service last month. The previous record of 1,083 sales was set in May 1991.
“I think the strong uptick in the market has surprised many of us,” board president Mike Nugent said Friday. “The business cycles of real estate are affected by economic drivers and it’s clear that this cycle has all possible drivers running at top speed.”
Prices are rising, homes are selling faster and the inventory of available properties remains 30 per cent lower than a year ago. Certain areas, such as Gordon Head, Oak Bay and Fairfield, are in particularly high demand.
House hunters are getting used to being beaten out in bidding wars, a common practice these days.
Vancouver’s super-charged real estate market has spilled into the capital region, where local buyers are vying with Lower Mainland and offshore purchasers.
Nugent also points to low mortgage rates, pent-up demand from slower years between 2008 and 2013 and a buoyant economy.
For single-family homes, March had 569 sales, the fourth highest on the board’s database. The record for single-family sales was also set in May 1991 when 646 changed hands.
Real estate was especially hot in 1991. April of that year had 624 single-family sales, with March at 597.
Last month’s sales numbers for all types of properties are up by 45 per cent from February at 772.
March sales numbers beat March 2015 numbers by 52.7 per cent, when 734 properties were sold.
The benchmark price for a house in the core rose to $663,000 last month. Again, that is up from last month and higher than a year ago at $569,700.
Real estate agent Leslee Farrell sold a waterfront Oak Bay house for the highest amount recorded so far this year. An offer of $6.2 million, due to close in July, has been accepted for Salty Towers, a 9,777-square-foot English Tudor-style manor on 2.25 acres.
The 1101 Beach Dr. property features mountain views across the water. Salty Towers has nine bedrooms, 10 bathrooms, salt-water aquarium, snooker room and temperature-controlled wine cellars.
Real estate watchers thought that the Greater Victoria’s hot market would attract more sellers and it did — but not by much.
There were 2,618 listings in March, an increase from 2,562 in February. The number was higher in March 2015, at 3,769.
Saanich East saw 134 sales of single-family homes last month. That’s the highest number of sales in any neighbourhood for any category of home.
Victoria followed with 100 condominium sales.
With 29 sales of single-family homes, totalling $34.6 million in sales value, high-end Oak Bay hung on to its reputation for higher prices.
Nugent said that prices and inventory vary in different neighbourhoods. “Areas near the downtown core continue to see high demand for houses and condos, as do most areas in the Peninsula,” he said.
Unlike the core, the West Shore has room to build and has lower land prices, both key to lower housing prices.
Oak Bay is opening its door to the idea of creating more housing sites through an infill strategy.
This week, it published a request for proposals to develop a residential infill plan, outlining policies, criteria, and design guidelines. The process will include public consultation and meetings.
The current owner of Salty Towers is already on board with that concept, having submitted a four-lot subdivision plan to Oak Bay. No decision has been made yet.
