The real estate market here on the Island continues to be similar to other parts of Canada in that it is still very much a sellers market. Sales have more than doubled, while although we have seen an increase in new listings the number of active listings is running at approximately half of what we would see at this time of year. This has all contributed to sold median prices being approximately 30% higher.
Canada's mortgage regulator has proposed increases to the stress test for uninsured mortgages so buyers will have to qualify at their interest rate plus two percentage points or 5.25%, whichever is higher. The 5.25% is an increase on the current 4.79% which is the current average posted rate at Canada's biggest lenders. Whether this will have any impact on the market I have my doubts as we either need more inventory or less buyers. This change to the stress test may take some of the buyers out of the market by reducing their purchasing power but it is forecast that it will only reduce it by between 4% and 4.5% so I cannot see it making a huge difference.
Real Estate Statistics
The graphs below show the median sold price, sold numbers and number of new listings since the beginning of each year (freehold homes only.)
Median Sold Price:
Sold Numbers:
The following graph is for Nanaimo and shows the months of inventory. This is the time it would take the current freehold, single family homes for sale, to sell, if no new homes were listed, which indicates whether we have a sellers, balanced or buyers’ market.
Number of new listings:
The following graphs shows the % difference of the housing price index (HPI) from the same month 12 months ago. It is split into the different sub-areas (the overall figure for Nanaimo is on the left of the graph) and is for single family homes.
The following graphs are for Nanaimo and show the sales numbers against new listings and sales numbers against total active listings. This is helpful to show how the market is doing as the closer the 2 lines come together on each graph generally indicates a busy active market.
These figures do concentrate on single family homes but if you would like similar information for other property types, such as apartments or patio homes, or specific geographical areas of Nanaimo or Parksville/Qualicum, then I would be more than happy to discuss those with you as well.
As always I hope you find these monthly newsletters informative and if at any time you or any of your friends, relatives or co-workers are looking for a professional realtor to help them buy or sell a home, or just have a real estate question, please call my personal cell, 250-739-1228, or drop me an email.
Thank you,
Ian
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