I’ve lived in coastal British Columbia my whole life, and June is a fickle beast indeed. It’s often cool and wet, and this year – well – this year was something else altogether. The weather people crunched the numbers and apparently it was the third-least-sunniest June since 1969. We also got about 33% more rain than normal. It didn’t seem to dampen the real estate market in Sooke, however, which was quite busy overall. Let’s have a look, and then check some graphs for the year so far.
June 2011:
- New listings, all property types: 117 (81 single family dwellings)
- Sales, single family dwellings (SFD): 16
- Sales, all property types: 23
- Lowest price: a condo at $156,000
- Highest price: $685,000
- Average price, SFD: $420,363
- Median price, SFD: $378,500
- Active listings, all property types: 477
- Sale price breakdown (SFD): $200K-$300K: 1 | $300K-$400K: 8 | $400K-$500K: 4 | $500K-$600K: 1 | $600K-$700K: 2
- Average days on market: 86 (74 for SFD)
- New listings, all property types: 93 (55 SFD)
- Sales, SFD: 28
- Sales, all property types: 36
- Lowest price: a manufactured home at $100,000 (the lowest price SFD was $275,000)
- Highest price: a waterfront home at $878,900
- Average price, SFD: $401,133
- Median price, SFD: $369,500
- Active listings, all property types: 440
- Sale price breakdown (SFD): $200K-$300K: 2 | $300K-$400K: 15 | $400K-$500K: 7 | $500K-600K: 3 | $800K +: 1
Let’s see what the year has looked like so far this year compared to 2011 overall. Click the graphs to enlarge.
So what does all this say to me? Prices are stable in Sooke, for the most part – the lower end of the market has been having to discount to sell, but the mid-range and higher-end properties have seemed to hold on, for the most part. I would say that prices have probably declined slightly overall, but not excessively so. There are always the anomalies, but overall there is little pressure up or down on prices at the current moment.
Of course, the federal government announced more mortgage restrictions for CMHC-insured borrowers, which come into effect on July 9. I will be analysing what these changes could mean for our market in another post. The last graph I would like to leave you with is the number of sales by month for the past 5 years:
We have not had a more active June since 2009, which to me is a good sign. There is much reason for optimism in real estate in our area. I believe the economy is starting to recover completely, and job growth will take hold in our region. Global events are always a threat, but they will also keep interest rates very low for the foreseeable future (some analysts predict no meaningful increases until 2014). Prices are reasonable and there are deals to be had. If this is the right time for you to buy, then by all means do it. A home isn’t an investment first, it’s a home first.
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