MARKET UPDATE

MARCH

2015

Holmes Realty Ltd. 2481 Beacon Ave.

Sidney, BC V8L 1X9

250-656-0911

WWW.HOLMESREALTY.COM

February sales for 2015 are up over 31% from the same month last year. February typically marks the start of higher monthly sales numbers every year as gardens begin

to show some colour and the weather starts to get warmer. Last month we recorded 542 MLS sales in the capital region. Additionally, when compared to January 2015 we have a 54% increase in sales numbers, up from 351 MLS sales.

Single family home sales are leading the market from a property type standpoint. With 285 single family homes selling over the course of last month, we have set a milestone with numbers not seen since 2008. While buyers are certainly serious about taking ad-vantage of the lower interest rates, the inventory of available property might not be able to keep the pace with almost 300 fewer active listings on the market compared with this time in 2014.

The benchmark Home Price Index value for a single family home in the Victoria Real Estate Board in February was $483,000 up from $472,500 in February 2014. The benchmark value for Condos has also increased to $289,200 from $277,100 in Feb-ruary 2014. Townhome prices have remained stable over the year from $402,000 in February 2014 compared to $400,900 this year.

The Absorption rate rose slightly in February to 7.2 months of inventory, however the market remains balanced when compared to absorption rates from the last four years. In the Greater Victoria Area, there were 13 sales over one million dollars of which two were over two million both in Uplands.

8.59.1

9.49.8 10.0

9.48.9 8.8

9.29.5 9.7 9.6

10.6

11.511.9

11.210.5

9.3

8.4

7.8 7.7 7.5 7.5 7.4

7.9

9.09.3

9.6

9.2

8.3

7.4

6.6 6.56.1 6.0

5.8

6.67.2

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

Septem

ber

October

Novem

ber

Decem

ber

Month

s of

Invento

ryAbsorption Rate

Greater Victoria Area - (2012-2015)

2012 2013 2014 2015

CAPITAL REGION SALES

An absorption rate is the rate at which avail-able homes are in a specific market area during a given period of time.

This is calculated by dividing the average number of sales into the number of homes currently on the market.

The rate shows how many months it will take to exhaust the supply of homes. A value be-tween 5 and 6 months is considered to indi-cate a healthy, balanced market. A value over 6 is considered a Buyers market, and values under 5 are generally a Sellers market.

542

MO

NT

HS

OF

IN

VE

NT

OR

Y

6

5

4

3

7

8

BALANCED

BUYERMARKET

SELLERMARKET

HOW TO INTERPRET ABSORPTION RATES

8.5

9.1

9.4

9.8

10.0

9.4

8.9

8.8

9.2

9.5

9.7

9.6

10.6

11.5

11.9

11.2

10.5

9.3

8.4

7.8

7.7

7.5

7.5

7.4

7.9

9.0

9.3

9.6

9.2

8.3

7.4

6.6

6.5

6.1

6.0

5.8

6.6

7.2

23456789

10

11

12

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

DecemberMonths of Inventory

Ab

sorp

tion R

ate

Gre

ate

r V

icto

ria A

rea -

(20

12

-20

15

)

20

12

20

13

20

14

20

15

2.7

8

1.7

1

3.0

32.9

43.6

72.9

73.7

64.5

25.1

3

2.9

4

14.4

0

4.7

35.1

2

15.2

7

10.0

0

0.0

0

2.0

0

4.0

0

6.0

0

8.0

0

10

.00

12

.00

14

.00

16

.00

18

.00

Months of InventoryA

bso

rption R

ate

s -S

ingle

Fam

ily D

eta

ched

Febru

ary

2015

5.5

84.6

14.8

6

12.0

0

6.7

86.9

67.7

1

4.5

04.3

9

19.5

0

6.0

9

0.0

0

5.0

0

10

.00

15

.00

20

.00

25

.00

Months of InventoryA

bso

rption R

ate

s -C

ondom

iniu

ms

Febru

ary

2015

42.0

0

7.2

0

2.8

2

0.6

7

9.0

0

15.6

0

0.0

0

2.0

0

4.0

0

6.0

0

8.0

0

10

.00

12

.00

14

.00

16

.00

18

.00

Months of InventoryA

bso

rption R

ate

s -M

anufa

ctu

red H

om

es

Febru

ary

2015

2.4

8

7.2

0

3.0

0

7.5

0

3.3

02.6

7

3.9

34.2

0

7.5

0

3.6

0

8.1

2

7.3

8

14.1

8

0.0

0

2.0

0

4.0

0

6.0

0

8.0

0

10

.00

12

.00

14

.00

16

.00

Months of InventoryA

bso

rption R

ate

s -T

ow

nhouse

sF

ebru

ary

2015

012345678

5.1

3

n/a

7.5

0

n/a

2.9

4

4.3

9

3.6

0

0.6

7

4.5

24

.50

4.2

0

2.8

2

Abso

rption R

ate

s -S

aanic

h P

enin

sula

Feb

ruary

20

15

Nort

h S

aanic

hS

idney

Centr

al S

aanic

h

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

20

12

37

24

97

57

05

86

65

96

37

52

34

62

41

93

73

36

62

83

20

13

29

43

94

48

36

15

65

96

64

58

35

40

48

75

12

41

23

55

20

14

34

24

12

57

56

64

71

46

80

68

16

09

56

56

02

46

53

89

20

15

35

15

42

200

300

400

500

600

700

800

Number of SalesM

onth

ly S

ale

s C

om

pari

son

Gre

ate

r V

icto

ria -

(2012-2

015)

0

10

00

20

00

30

00

40

00

50

00

Active L

istings

/ N

um

ber

of

Sale

sG

reate

r V

icto

ria -

(last

24

month

s)

Act

ive

List

ings

Num

ber

of S

ales

SINGLE FAMILY DETACHED

North Saanich Central Saanich SidneyListed Sold Listed Sold Listed Sold

$0 – $499K 2 1 7 2 8 7

$500K – $799K 21 9 23 16 12 1

$800K – $999K 6 2 8 2 1 0

$1000K – $1999K 24 0 9 1 3 0

$2000K + 12 0 7 0 0 0

CONDOS & TOWNHOMES

PENINSULA Listed Sold

$0 – $199K 7 1

$200K – $399K 45 15

$400K – $799K 21 0

$800K – $999K 1 0

$1000K + 2 0

MANUFACTURED

PENINSULA Listed Sold

$0 – $99K 3 0

$100K – $149K 2 0

$150K – $199K 1 3

$200K – $249K 2 1

$250K + 1 1

SFD WATERFRONT

PENINSULA Listed Sold

$0 – $999K 2 2

$1000K – $1499K 8 1

$1500K – $1999K 5 0

$2000K – $2999K 3 0

$3000K + 12 0

LOTS & LAND

PENINSULA Listed Sold

$0 – $299K 6 0

$300K – $499K 16 2

$500K – $699K 3 0

$700K – $999K 3 0

$1000K + 12 0

“Listed” : The number of MLS listings presently on the market at the end of the month indicated.“Sold” : The number of MLS listings with unconditional offers in the month indicated.

PENINSULAINVENTORY VS SALES(By Price Range) -February 2015