INFOGRAPHICS: August 2019 VIREB Vancouver Island Market Reports

Ready to welcome the Fall season? It’s time for our monthly market updates for areas covered by the Vancouver Island Real Estate Board (VIREB)!

As stated in their latest market update, VIREB is seeing the housing market adjusting as buyers adapt to the B-20 Stress Test.

Sales of single-family homes in August board-wide dipped by 11% year over year, and were 9% lower than in July. Last month, 413 single-family homes sold on the Multiple Listing Service® (MLS®) System compared to 453 the previous month and 463 in August2018. Year-over-year sales of apartments and townhouses dropped by 28% and 25%, respectively.

Prices in the VIREB area are still rising, but the magnitude is softening compared to the increases posted during our long-running sellers’ market. The benchmark price of a single-family home board-wide was $515,400 in August, a 3% increase from one year ago and up slightly from July.

Trend-wise, VIREB’s housing market has transitioned from one favouring sellers to one that is balanced and, in some areas, it is shifting towards a buyers’ market. Kaye Broens, 2019 President, reports that sellers now recognize that the market has changed and are pricing their homes accordingly. Although real estate is cyclical, the one factor that remains constant is that well-priced homes sell faster.

The following data is a comparison between August 2018 and August 2019 numbers, and is current as of September 2019. Click here to check out last month’s infographics.

You can also view all our VIREB infographics by clicking here.

Click on the images for a larger view!

(Protip: Make sure to grab the printable PDF versions, too! It fits best when printed on A4-sized sheets, AND we’ve added an area on the sheet where you can attach your business card! 🙂 )