Prices for West Shore real estate are down slightly from this time last year, though the market is generally stable, suggest statistics released last week. As is typical in summer, real estate sales throughout Greater Victoria were slower in July than in June.
“It appears like it’s a really good buyer’s market at the moment,” Susan Dunn, managing broker of real estate firm DFH Westshore. “It’s a bit of a price-sensitive market. Sellers have to be aware that there’s some adjustments that are going on in pricing. But the number of sales that have taken place this year so far is identical to what has taken place last year. So it’s stable, a good stable market.”
Langford had the highest number of single family houses sold on the West Shore for July with 42, the second highest for any municipality in Greater Victoria after Saanich East.
In the same month last year, 30 Langford homes sold.
Despite the number of sales, however, the median price of the houses sold was down about $100,000 from the previous year, sitting at just over $504,000.
Condominium sales were down substantially for Langford, with this year’s nine sales compared to last year’s 19 for July. The median price for condos was down too, by around $45,000, sitting at $245,000 for 2011.
In View Royal there were nine houses sold in July, five more than the year before, worth a total value of $4.7 million. View Royal’s median price was down too, by about $150,000 from the year before, at $546,000.
Colwood saw 18 house sales, worth a total of $8.7 million, up from 13 sales the year previous. Sales of Colwood condominiums and townhouses remained steady from the year before at three and two, respectively. Prices for Colwood stayed relatively stable across the board and were up by around $45,000 for the median price of condominiums. Four Metchosin houses were sold, down one house from one year before. Prices were down slightly.
Total MLS sales for Greater Victoria for July were 523, exactly the same for the period in 2011. The value of those sales amounted to roughly $3.2 million dollars more this year than the last.
Dunn said it’s difficult to predict where the market is headed but said living in an area as sought after as Greater Victoria is always going to be a positive influence on housing prices and sales.
“Everyone in Canada would love to live here. It’s like the Hawaii of Canada, is what I always call it,” Dunn said. “We’re very fortunate for where we live and people want to move here.”
kwells@goldstreamgazette.com