2015 was a fruitful year for metropolitan Victoria's real-estate industry as sales of properties surged while real-estate values, particularly for single-family-dwellings, appreciated at a solid pace.

 

8,281 property sales through the Multiple Listings Service (MLS) eclipsed 2014's 6,698 by over 19%, according to the Victoria Real-Estate Board. The latter, however, does not include the sale of unlisted properties such as the majority of pre-sale condos, townhomes and single-family-dwellings. Estimates for unlisted sales vary although industry insiders believe 500 transactions is a reasonable estimate.

 

Out of the 8,281 MLS sales for the year, 326 went to Lower Mainland buyers, a big jump from the previous year's total of 205. The sudden increase is attributed to residents cashing in on Vancouver's frenzied market and resettling in the affordable (by comparison) capital region. Buyers from Alberta's two largest cities represented a total of 307 sales, lead by Calgary with 206 and Edmonton with 101. Ottawa was the next runner-up with 37 sales for the year. Although the board does not maintain precise statistics on foreign buyers, analysts suggest a figure of 4-to-5% represents foreign real-estate purchases in the region. Out-of-town buyers hailing from across Canada represent between 10 and 15%, bringing the total of non-local purchases to upwards of 20%.

 

The sheer monetary volume of real-estate transactions was a record breaker with sales in excess of $4.2 billion dollars, eclipsing the previous record set in 2007 of $4.146 billion. Meanwhile the average single-family-dwelling price for the year was in the $650,000 range while the median was $565,000. Average prices for single-family-dwellings increased by 6% while condos saw a marginal rise of just over 0.5%. Townhomes remained relatively stable with an increase just over 1% for the year. Inventory remained low throughout 2015 with a December total of just 2,517 active listings, a far cry from the already low 3,210 of 2014.

 

High demand and low inventory spell out one certainty for the coming year, says REALTOR® Marko Juras of Victoria's Fair Realty.

 

"Unless we see a sudden inventory increase, there will be considerable upwards pressure on prices in 2016 with the constant stream of interest we are seeing," Juras said, adding that 2016 should be a good year for homeowners looking to downsize, move to a new home or cash in on real-estate investments. C