With snow on the ground and temperatures hovering around -2C (but headed lower), it’s a good time to stay warm and take a quick look at some pre-Christmas market stats. I’ll report in more detail for December 2008 early in January. Today’s figures are for the first half of December.
The Victoria Real Estate Board reports overall sales to December 15 totaled 133. Total listings were 306, and the current listing count is 4,142.
The stats below have a narrower focus, and relate only to previously owned condos and single family homes in the core area of Victoria (which takes in Victoria, Esquimalt, View Royal, Oak Bay and Saanich).
First, lets look at condos. There were 19 sales this year, versus 34 for the same period last year. Listings were also down, but by a fewer proportional number (down to 40 versus 46 last year). The average sale price for this two week period was actually slightly less than the average assessed value for the units sold (97%).
Turing to single family homes, the story is similar, but different. While sales were down to 39 from 64, listings were actually up for the same period last year – 74 this year compared with only 56 in 2007. Average sale price crept closer to average assessed values for this group of homes (101%).
Average and median prices based on such a relatively few number of homes sold aren’t reliable indicators of much. I think it’s safe to say that the three month rolling average trend line has not reversed direction in the past two weeks. And for both condos and single family homes, the average days on market to sell (for those that actually sold) was up, at 62.
Look for more details in the first week of January, 2009!
Bye for now,
...Victoria's blogging real estate professional.
