Nothing surprises me anymore when it comes to real estate especially when you look at what has been happening to the market here on mid-Vancouver Island.
Of course we are still seeing big changes when looking at the market compared to the same time last year. Hard not to when last year was the hottest market we have ever experience. That will continue to be the case until we move away from that time period.
That being said, single-family properties in the Parksville/Qualicum area have sold for more on average than this time last year and, in November, had higher units sold! Again, nothing surprises me when it comes to real estate.
One of the leading reasons for this is mid-Vancouver Island is still relatively low on inventory. We are leaps and bounds ahead of where we were in 2021 but still very short of what we typically see the levels at in a more balanced market. This supply versus demand issue always puts upward pressure on price.
As far as a balanced market goes, we are definitely there. Average sales prices have been stable since August and we have returned to sales volumes similar to what we say in 2019, before the market brought on by the pandemic.
The latest Bank of Canada rate change will have an affect on the market but we likely won't see that until we head into Spring and the real start of the 2023 market. We didn't see too much of a change with the last rate increase but with the Bank of Canada indicating this may be the last change for a little while, it should remove some of the uncertainty that has been in the market and spur the 'fence sitters' into action.