October 2021, Victoria Real Estate Market Stats

Market Stats
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Inventory pressures continue to constrain the Victoria real estate market

There was a total of 745 properties was sold in the Victoria Real Estate Board region this October, 24.7 percent fewer than the 990 properties sold in October 2020, and 2.1 percent fewer than the previous month of September. Condominium sales were down 18.1 percent from October 2020 with 249 units sold. Additionally, 18.6 percent fewer condominiums sold in October 2021 than in the previous month of September. Sales of single-family homes were down 30.4 percent from October 2020 with 339 sold. 2.4 percent more single-family homes sold in October 2021 than in the previous month of September.

“Once again – it’s anyone’s guess what our sales numbers would be like had we been in a market with a historically average number of homes for sale,” said Victoria Real Estate Board President David Langlois. “Over the previous ten years, the average number of properties for sale in the month of October was 3,210 – we are down to one-third of that this year. We continue to see record-breaking low levels of homes for sale and with continuing competition for homes, we see pricing pressure persist.”

At the end of October 2021, there were 1,036 active listings for sale on the Victoria Real Estate Board Multiple Listing Service®, which is 51.2 percent fewer properties than the 2,122 available at the end of October 2020. It is also 7.8 percent fewer properties than the 1,124 active listings for sale at the end of September 2021 – showing a continued trend of lack of inventory in the housing market.

Benchmark Prices

The Multiple Listing Service® Home Price Index benchmark value for a single-family home in the Victoria Core in October 2020 was $880,500. The benchmark value for the same home in October 2021 increased by 25.3 percent to $1,103,600, a 0.3 percent increase from the previous month of September. The MLS® HPI benchmark value for a condominium in the Victoria Core in October 2020 was $482,200, while the benchmark value for the same condominium in October 2021 increased by 14.4 percent to $551,800.

“The only solution to our current market is to create more supply,” added President Langlois. “And creating supply isn’t something that happens overnight, so we need to make a commitment to build in the coming years. That takes cooperation. It takes public acceptance of increased density in some areas, the ability for builders to staff and supply their developments and for investors to be able to make their plans a reality within a reasonable timeline and at a reasonable cost. We need to continue to focus on densification of our urban areas – the idea of encouraging duplexes and small plexes in neighbourhoods and building up in core areas. Thoughtful densification will allow us to protect our greenspace, leverage existing infrastructure and take advantage of existing amenities.”