Spring has sprung - what about the real estate market in Sooke?

April just flew by, and here we are in the second week of May already and I’m just getting to the stats from last month. It’s pretty slow out there, and if you’re looking to buy, there are definitely deals to be had. If you go by the average and median prices, it would appear that prices are fairly stable, but there has definitely been an increase in sales of cheaper properties.  It’s not all bad news though – properties that are realistically priced based on market conditions are selling, sometimes very quickly. And, there are actually fewer properties on the market this year than the same time last, and there were fewer properties listed this April than last, which helps keep supply in check with demand. Let’s have a look at the numbers:

April 2011:

• New listings, all property types: 107 (65 single family dwellings)
• Sales, single family dwellings (SFD): 22
• Sales, all property types: 30
• Lowest price: a manufactured home at $10,000 (Lowest price SFD sold for $250,000)
• Highest price: $1,005,000
• Average price, SFD: $441,041
• Median price, SFD: $416,000
• Active listings, all property types: 450
• Sale price breakdown (SFD): $200K-$300K: 1 | $300K-$400K: 9 | $400K-$500K: 9 | $500K-$600K: 0 | $600K-$700K: 2 | $1M+: 1

• New listings, all property types: 87  (65 SFD)
• Sales, SFD: 16
• Sales, all property types: 23
• Lowest price: a manufactured home at $43,000 (Lowest price SFD sold for $225,000)
• Highest price: a waterfront home at $810,000
• Average price, SFD: $447,606
• Median price, SFD: $426,250
• Active listings, all property types: 411
• Sale price breakdown (SFD): $200K-$300K: 3 | $300K-$400K: 3 | $400K-$500K: 6 | $500K-600K: 1 | $600K – $700k: 2 | $800K+: 1

May seems to have kicked off a little busier – showing activity is picking up on my listings and I have one accepted offer already, but pricing remains key. If you would like an honest evaluation on where your property value sits, or if you have any questions about how I came to these numbers or what they mean, just give me a call at 250-885-0512 or send me an email

More statistics? Click here to see all posts I’ve written about stats.

$369,900

So many extras in this stylish, 2008-built family home on a quiet residential street just a stone’s throw away from Sooke Elementary School. You’ll love the gleaming solid oak floors throughout the lower level, cultured-stone gas fireplace in the living room, and the extra high ceilings with elegant crown mouldings. 

The main level is very open, and features a large kitchen with lots of storage and counter space, including an eating bar. The tidy back yard has a deck with gas BBQ outlet and a hot tub. The upper deck off the master bedroom features harbour and mountain views. Check out TimAyres.ca/79 for a complete description, floor plan and lots of pictures.

The living room of a listing I took in March (click pic for more info)

March brought us a teachers’ strike and a 2-week Spring Break here in the Sooke School District. I’m not sure if that slowed down market activity but March 2012 was certainly a good bit behind last month and the same month last year in terms of number of sales and the dollar value of those sales. Still, showing activity is strong and there are definitely buyers out there (I’m working with at least 5 buyers looking in Sooke at the moment). 

Better late than never, here are your Sooke real estate sales statistics for March, 2012:

March 2011:

• New listings, all property types: 123 (89 single family dwellings)
• Sales, single family dwellings (SFD): 25
• Sales, all property types: 35
• Lowest price: a manufactured home at $25,000 ($175,000 was the lowest SFD, a home in Port Renfrew)
• Highest price: $1.1 million (one of two sales over $1 million in March 2011)
• Average price, SFD: $496,070 (clearly pulled upward by those high-end sales)
• Median price, SFD: $414,900
• Active listings, all property types: 411
• Sale price breakdown (SFD): $100K-$200K: 1 | $200K-$300K: 1 | $300K-$400K: 8 | $400K-$500K: 7 | $500K-$600K: 1 | $600K – $700K: 5 (wow) | $700K+: 2 (both over $1M)

• New listings, all property types: 100 (68 SFD)
• Sales, SFD: 14
• Sales, all property types: 23
• Lowest price: a manufactured home at $72,500 ($295,000 was the lowest-priced SFD)
• Highest price: a new home at $642,475
• Average price, SFD: $417,670
• Median price, SFD: $404,950
• Active listings, all property types: 371
• Sale price breakdown (SFD): $100K – $200K: 1 | $200K-$300K: 1 | $300K-$400K: 4 | $400K-$500K: 5 | $500K-600K: 2 | $600K +: 1

If you have any questions about how these statistics were calculated, what they mean, or would like to know what your property is worth in today’s market, just give me a call at 250-885-0512 or send me an email

$379,900 $374,500

Wow – so much house for such a great price! This immaculate, 2003-built family home boasts 1900 sqft of well-laid-out family living space. Set on a quiet cul-de-sac, the home is just steps away from elementary and middle schools, and convenient walking distance from Sooke village, shopping, trails, parks, and more.

Warm wood floors, wide, open-plan main floor and a stylish, large kitchen are just some of the features on the main level. Upstairs are three generously-sized bedrooms and 2 bathrooms including the master with full ensuite bath and jetted tub. See full details including lots of high-resolution pictures, floor plan, HD video tour, and more at TimAyres.ca/100

Just $329,900!

Outstanding value in this 1993-built 3 bed 1 bath single level home on a quiet cul-de-sac just a few minutes’ stroll to Whiffin Spit Park. On nearly a quarter acre of flat, usable land, this home is nicely updated and ready to move right into. From the laminate floors to the ceramic tiles to the stylish high-end propane fireplace, you’ll just fall in love with this tidy home. A huge, fully fenced yard and a separate wired workshop add to the complete picture. See full details including lots of high-resolution photos, an HD video tour, floor plan, and more at TimAyres.ca/99

If you want to start an argument on the Internet, or anywhere else, for that matter, start talking about the pros and cons of owning vs renting your home. It’s guaranteed to get people fired up on either side of the argument. Of course, depending on your level of debate, you might never get invited out with that group of friends again. There are points on both sides that make a lot of sense. Let’s take a look:

Renters claim it’s cheaper than owning, there’s less risk, they’re more mobile and aren’t tied to a specific location if they don’t want to be. Many say that houses are too expensive in our marketplace and are waiting for a crash to chop 50% off property values.

Owners say that real estate is an investment, and that renters are simply throwing away money by paying somebody else’s mortgage instead of their own. Depending on when they bought, they say they couldn’t rent what they have for less than their mortgage payment.

Renters don’t have direct costs such as maintenance, property taxes, or in some cases, utilities.

Owners have the freedom to do what they want, when they want to – they can paint, renovate, whatever – beholden to no one, in most cases.

I’m going to come right out and say it:

In our current marketplace, and especially in Langford or closer to Victoria, renting is probably cheaper and easier than owning, especially in the short term. If you are a disciplined renter, you can probably do quite well by investing the difference between your rent and the probable mortgage, taxes, and maintenance on a similar property in an RRSP or some other savings vehicle. But the problem is, most people aren’t disciplined enough.

Owners who view their home as a financial investment are somewhat short-sighted, in my opinion. Yes, historically, many people have done very well in real estate. I know plenty of people who’ve owned their home outright for decades, cashed out and bought a cheap condo to live out their retirement years, and banked the rest. But I believe that the crazy days of the beginning to middle of the last decade are long gone. It’s going to be some time before you can expect to buy, renovate, and flip a property for a huge profit in a short amount of time.

It’s one of the things that’s always bugged me about my profession (and one of the things, perhaps, that prevents it from being viewed as a profession), is this constant trumpeting about a home being a great ‘investment.’ As if your home is nothing but a walk-in ATM or some number in a portfolio at your broker’s office. People talk about the value of their home at dinner parties and around the water cooler – what it’s worth, how much the assessment went up or down this year, and so on.

What about the other meaning of value? What’s your home worth?

One of the reasons people hire me is to place a numeric value on their home. To estimate the amount that a buyer would be willing to pay given proper exposure and marketing, in a reasonable amount of time. But a home is much more than a number. A home you own is a place to put down roots. A place to start a family and watch them grow up in their own space. A place you feel secure and safe, that you are proud to call your own, proud to show off to friends and family. I’m not saying that you can’t be proud of a place you rent, or any of the other things mentioned above, but renters tell me all the time that they never really feel settled in many cases, and of course a landlord can sell to an owner-occupier, take possession him/herself, or even be foreclosed upon and you will have no say in the matter and will have to move.

A home’s value is in the memories, warmth, happiness and the family milestones which occur within its walls. It’s the photos on the walls, the junk in the garage, and the pencilled-in ‘growth charts’ on the wall in the kitchen.

Let’s stop talking about homes the same way we talk about a stock or bond or mutual fund. Let’s get back to basics where a home is a home first, and an investment a very distant second.

I was inspired to write this post by this video:

 Have a great weekend, everyone.

One of 20 Single Family Homes That Sold in Sooke in February 2012

For a short month, February seemed to drag on a bit around the Ayres household – must have been that one extra day. Here is my second instalment of real estate statistics for Sooke, for the month of  February 2012. There is definitely a vibe of increased activity in the local marketplace, with properties being snapped up or at the very least, showing activity increasing. I was even involved in a multiple offer situation on a property in Sooke, which hasn’t happened for quite some time. Price remains to be key, and this is reflected in the average price and other numbers. Let’s see how February 2012 compared to February 2011:

February 2011:

• New listings, all property types: 96 (54 single family dwellings)
• Sales, single family dwellings (SFD): 14
• Sales, all property types: 19
• Lowest price: a manufactured home at $25,000
• Highest price: $579,000
• Average price, SFD: $430,129
• Median price, SFD: $416,950
• Active listings, all property types: 380
• Sale price breakdown (SFD): $200K-$300K: 1 | $300K-$400K: 5 | $400K-$500K: 5 | $500K-$600K: 3

• New listings, all property types: 79 (56 SFD)
• Sales, SFD: 20
• Sales, all property types: 26
• Lowest price: a manufactured home at $28,000
• Highest price: a new home at $630,000
• Average price, SFD: $385,670
• Median price, SFD: $369,000
• Active listings, all property types: 343
• Sale price breakdown (SFD): $200K-$300K: 1 | $300K-$400K: 12 | $400K-$500K: 6 | $500K-600K: 1 | $600K +: 1

Again, I caution using average and median prices as an indicator of pricing trends in Sooke. The relatively low number of sales each month, and the wide, wide variety of different property values makes for an extremely unreliable indicator. Using these indicators, it would appear that prices are way down year-over-year, but I don’t think that is the case. By the same analysis, prices have jumped from January to February this year. The important thing to take away is that there were more sales this month than last, and more sales this February than last February. Buyers are definitely coming out to look – I have been very busy with calls from first-time buyers, in particular. It is also encouraging that there were fewer new listings than February 2011, and fewer total active listings.

If you have any questions about how these statistics were calculated, what they mean, or would like to know what your property is worth in today’s market, just give me a call at 250-885-0512 or send me an email

A new business here in Sooke

Last week, I came across the twitter account for a new business here in Sooke called Salish Sea Salts. I had not heard of them before nor seen their products, so I decided to check out their website to see what was up. As it turns out, they are a small local company that produces sea salt blends from seawater harvested right from the Strait of Juan de Fuca.I was intrigued – and my curiosity about exactly how you harvest seawater and extract its salty goodness prompted me to reach out to Jessica, one of the owners of the outfit, for an interview. I learned a lot and was amazed at just what goes into creating this local gourmet product. Everyone that knows me knows that I love to cook, so I was doubly excited to learn more about what they have to offer.

Salish Sea Salts is a local business producing locally hand-harvested all-natural gourmet artisan sea salts for cooking and bath salts. Having just started in October of 2011, Jessica was impressed with the results as she launched the business at a Christmas market in November. With an interest in environmental protection and the local food movement, Jessica decided to do her part and work on creating a local, sustainable business which would further the goals of the local food movement too.

They have many different flavours: natural, chili garlic (made from home made chilies!), roasted red pepper, smashed peppercorn, rosemary, lemon dill, and lemon pepper. For bath salts, they mix a blend of natural sea salts with local (if available) ingredients, essential oils and premium grade Epsom salts.

What is most interesting to me is how they create their products. I met Jessica and her husband at their boat at Sunny Shores Marina to learn more.  They travel about a mile or two off shore into the Strait of Juan de Fuca, and extend a hose deep below the boat. An electric pump takes about an hour to fill the twenty 23 litre water containers that they had lined up on the dock to show me.

From there it’s a hefty job to lift them up the dock and into the truck. They filter the water and boil it in large pots over a propane burner over about 4 days to evaporate most of the water, leaving only the very salty brine. Ingredients are added and the rest of the water is evaporated. The salt is then roasted in the oven to remove all moisture and give a light roasted flavour. The salts are sifted, weighed, and packaged in food-grade tins.

Because regular table salt is highly refined, the many micronutrients that are found in sea salt are stripped from it . The addition of anti-caking agents and iodide makes table salt even more unhealthy. Because sea salt has a stronger flavour than table salt, you can also use less. Jessica has a whole page about the difference between sea salt and table salt on her website – check it out for more information.

Jessica prepares to harvest salt to create her products

Salish Sea Salts can be purchased directly from their website and they offer free shipping all this month in the local area. Jessica can also be found at local farmers’ markets throughout the Island. Check this page for dates. Upcoming this Saturday, February 25 is the Sooke Seedy Saturday at the Community Hall on Shields Road from 10-3.

I asked Jessica to share a favourite recipe with us. Without hesitation, she pointed to the first recipe on her recipes page for a delicious pulled-pork sandwich. I used Salish’s smashed peppercorn salt on a roast I made over the weekend which turned out wonderfully. The larger salt crystals and spicy peppercorns created a glistening crust on the roast and great flavour that permeated throughout. Very nice.

What’s next for Salish Sea Salts? They hope to have their products in local shops by late this year. I talked with them about their plans for the future and to become even more sustainable and eco-friendly. They plan to one day build a solar evaporator on their property in Otter Point to use energy from the sun to produce the salt. As the business grows, they’ll be able to invest in the materials and equipment to make it happen.

GIVEAWAY!

Jessica was kind enough to provide me with an awesome prize to give away to readers of WhatTheSooke.com. I have a gift pack of six 25g tins (one of each flavour) of Salish Sea Salts, valued at $20! How would you like to win it? You can enter the contest in multiple ways – each way will get you one entry:

• Leave a comment below this post (1 entry)
• Like What The Sooke? on Facebook and leave a comment on this post (1 entry)

The data from the 2011 Canadian Census was released this week, and, not surprisingly, the greater Victoria region continues to grow. Also not surprisingly, growth tended to centre on areas with available land for new houses to be built. While the west shore of Langford and Colwood had the greatest population growth of about 30% (wow), Sooke was second with a growth of nearly 18% from 9699 to 11435. The census says that between 2006 and 2011 (known as the intercensal period - isn’t that a great word?), 864 private dwellings were built. This data covers just the District of Sooke – the surrounding areas of East Sooke, Shirley, Port Renfrew, Jordan River, and Otter Point add about 4000 or so to our regional population. It is hard to tell just how many people are in these areas because the census area also includes a large chunk to the north and east of Sooke, extending all the way to the end of Saanich Inlet near Goldstream.

My thoughts are that this is unsurprising, but good news for our region. As our region continues to grow, so will the amenities and services that we’d all love to take advantage of. Businesses use census data to decide where to open stores or move operations, which will create jobs for local residents. The provincial ministry of highways has been doing a lot of work on Sooke Road (Hwy 14) in the past few years and hopefully this will continue to make it easier for us all to get around.

What about you? Have you moved to Sooke in the last 5 years? Are you one of the new 1736 people that now call Sooke home? If not, how many people have you met in the last 5 years that are new to town?

]]> http://whatthesooke.com/2012/02/09/population-of-sooke-now-11435-growth-of-18-since-2006/feed/ 1 http://whatthesooke.com/2012/02/02/sooke-real-estate-sales-statistics-january-2012/ http://whatthesooke.com/2012/02/02/sooke-real-estate-sales-statistics-january-2012/#comments Thu, 02 Feb 2012 16:45:30 +0000 Tim Ayres http://whatthesooke.com/?p=7236

Where did January go? A fun start to the new year, a short trip to New York, and a couple of snow days and all of a sudden it was February! I’m going to try to keep track of statistics for Sooke at the end of each month and post them here so you can follow along. Along with the numbers, I’ll give you my opinion of what the vibe is like in the market and what the other REALTORS® are saying. Overall, I think 2012 will be a good year. There seems to be renewed confidence in the global economy, interest rates are still extremely low, and sellers are being realistic with prices.  So, let’s take a look at what January 2012 looked like compared to January 2011.

January 2011:

• New listings: 64
• Single Family Detached Sales: 10
• Total sales, all property types: 15
• Lowest price: a manufactured home at $37,000
• Highest price: $690,000
• Average price, single family detached: $432,160
• Median price, single family detached: $382,450
• Active listings, all property types: 332

January 2012:

• New listings: 67
• Single family detached sales: 9
• Total sales, all property types: 16
• Lowest price: a manufactured home (my sale) at $50,000
• Highest price: $499,900 (a new home in Sun River)
• Average price, single family detached: $333,311
• Median price, single family detached: $326,000
• Active listings, all property types: 352

While it might appear that prices have gone off a cliff year to year, this isn’t the case. With a relatively small sample size, average and median prices will fluctuate wildly from month-to-month based on what actually sell. That $690,000 sale last January definitely skewed the average up, and there were a few more higher-priced homes that also sold. I think activity is definitely up in Sooke. In talking to other agents, the sentiment is that this will be a more ‘normal’ year after last year being quite slow. I’m getting far more inquiries from people interested in moving here or investing in a property. Before I even advertised my upcoming first-time buyer seminars, I had people filling in the registration form.

These statistics are merely numbers – that’s it. They don’t necessarily indicate what your house would sell for or what you should be paying. Overall I think prices have come down from last year, but seem to be stabilizing. If you’re interested in selling this year, contact me for a detailed analysis of your property. If you’d like to know what’s coming up for sale, I can get you all the listings that match your criteria.