I was surprised at the results of the Victoria Real Estate Board‘s May 2008 MLS® statistics report, released yesterday. Here in Sooke, I’d been anticipating that other areas in the Victoria region had been having as strong a month as we have. I felt that anecdotally, anyway, our May was as good or better than May 2007. It turns out I was right.
For single family dwellings, there were 30 sales in the Sooke core area (I’m excluding East Sooke, Jordan River, Sheringham Point, and Port Renfrew). Last year there were 28. Including the aforementioned areas, there were 33 sales this year, and 30 last year.
New listings are a hot topic in real estate circles these days – the overall Victoria inventory is getting very high. In the Sooke core area there are a total of 131 listings currently available (192 including outlying areas). 62 of these were listed last month, compared to 72 last year. Click here for a .PDF of my findings. Please note: “New Sales” means deals that have gone unconditional (SOLD sticker goes up) but have not closed yet (new owners receive title). The VREB uses only closed sales for its calculations and statistics each month.
Overall it shows a stable, healthy market in my opinion. Sooke is a very desirable place to live. Lower taxes, more affordable housing, and a great seaside setting attract many people from other areas. You might be worried about the price of fuel if you have to commute to Victoria, but when you’re saving tens of thousands of dollars or more on housing, that buys a lot of gasoline, even at today’s prices.
Your comments are welcomed and encouraged. Just use the reply form below!
It is nice to hear that Sooke is still going strong, but for my family, I put a high price on commute time. Both my wife and I work in Victoria, and the time to commute to/from Sooke (nevermind the fuel costs!) played a large factor in choosing to own in the Victoria area.
I realize that everyone is different, and some don’t mind the drive.
On a side note…..I really enjoy your postings of the daily “Horrible MLS photos”. Keep them comming!!!
Bruce
Hi Bruce,
Thanks so much for your comment on my blog.
Your consideration of your time to be with family is a huge factor in your decision on where to live in relation to work. For somebody like me, who grew up in the outlying areas of Vancouver, a 45 minute commute is a dream! But for many who come from smaller towns like Victoria, 15 minutes from Oak Bay to downtown would seem like a lot.
But for many the choice of living in a rental in the city or owning their own property in Sooke outweighs the downside of the commute.
Thanks again, and please come back and comment again some time.
Thanks for the update Tim – always nice to know what the micromarkets of the VREB area are doing. They’re sure different.
Sooke may have an advantage in the event of a market downturn because it’s not likely to be as heavily “specuvested” and probably wouldn’t experience as much downward pressure should any kind of panic set in. It would be interesting to see some kind of comparison of the fluctuations of Sooke inventory versus the overall fluctuations of the Victoria market. With all that natural beauty and being more affordable in the first place, who even wants to sell? 🙂
I need to switch to telecommuting so I can buy an acreage out there…