Slow Sales Persisting On The Victoria Real Estate Board

Again this we are seeing very low numbers of homes selling on the Victoria Real Estate Board. I had a discussion with two Mortgage Broker friends of mine today about what may be causing such a dramatic decrease in volume. We talked about HST, new CMHC rules, and Consumer Confidence, we hear these terms often. We have no clear reasons as to why the numbers are so low, babies are still being born and people need to move. What gives? We did agree that across the board we are hearing “we are going to wait to see how things turn out” quite often from our friends and clients. This seems to put the onus on Consumer Confidence (just an opinion). The Local Market, sales where both parties already live here, seems to be slow but moving. The Emigration/Immigration Market seems to have dried up lately. I am not hearing a peep from the “out of town buyers” these days, this same thing happened at the onset of the recession. I feel that I am seeing a second and possibly deeper hit to our Real Estate Market from this Global Financial Crisis. Victoria is a stubborn and slow moving market, and we are typically behind the more volatile markets. Where this recent Slow-Down will take us no one knows. So far, in the bulk of the Downtown Market (family homes) we have not seen any noticeable drops in values, only in the Luxury Sector.

How Is The Low Number Of Recent Sales Affecting The Market?

Over the past four months we have seen a decline in the number of sold homes, and a general slow-down in our local Victoria Real Estate Market. I have seen some predictable things take place as a result of this slow-down. Before sellers became accustomed to this new style of market there was a bit of panic that spread through as sellers realized they were not guaranteed a timely sale. Many homes that are priced well, in good condition, and in good locations are not selling simply because there are more sellers than buyers. So far I have not seen any decline in prices over that of early this year, and we are seeing a 5% increase over last years prices. Sellers are increasingly careful with their pricing, but at the same time becoming less flexible on those prices. This is a tight market we are in these days, only time will tell where it will lead us.