General Market Conditions

As of December 31, 2009.

Statistics are provided from VIREB.

Residential Single Family Homes

(View Map of Sale Locations in PDF Format)

         CONDO STATS ARE SINCE JAN 1st THIS YEAR

Condominiums (Apartments)

Condominiums (Patio Homes)

Condominiums (Town Homes)

 Wow, that was a different year! January and February followed the horrendous end of 2008, but by March the market showed signs of life again. Our forecast of 2009 was "Is there any good news?" YES! Inventories are down 34% as compared to September 1, we will have 200+ military and other government families move in the next 6 months. Interest rates are at historic lows and sellers are aware that prices have adjusted and are accepting the reality "we were right". The buyers took advantage of low interest rates adjusting prices and kept buying, not at all levels of 2007, but at normal pace. Significant each month were the drop in inventories. By year end inventories had dropped by 26% and sales had actualy increased by 5%. The list to sales ratio which ended in the dumps at 47% in 2008 moved all the way up to 60% for 2009. What can you expect for 2010? Inventories in the beginning of 2009 were very high (in the range of 500 residential single family listings) expect to see the inventories in the 400 range. Sales last month were excellent and that activity should continue into 2010, at least until HST time. Prices are inching up in the below $350,000 range and negotiating room up to $425,000 is narrowing. We'd like to think that this will be a "normal" year.

 

 

 

Below you will find an analysis of the active Residential Homes market as of

December 31, 2009 by price range in 

comparison to previous twelve months sales.

Single Family Homes Analysis

Residential Inventory December 31, 2009

Raw Land Sales

 Average Price - MLS takes all the sales for a time period (usually a month or year) adds their dollar amount and divides by the number of sales.

 

The month of Dec average is             $339,584

The 12 month/year average is           $336,541

Since January 1, 2009                        $336,541

 

Median Price - This is the absolute middle price, in other words there are the same number of sales below this price as there are above this price.  

 

The month of Dec is                          $325,000

The 12 month/year is                        $325,000

Since January 1, 2009                       $325,000

List to Sales Ratio - This shows the percentage of sales in comparison to the amount of listings there are.  Typically there is a monthly percentage and a yearly one.  The higher the percentage, the busier the market.  A stable market would typically be around 60-70%.  A seller's market over 70% and a buyers market below 60%.

 

The month of Dec is                           77%

The 12 month/year average is            60%

Since January 1, 2009                         60%

 

The Sell Price/ List Price Ratio - Is a percentage showing what the property sold for in comparison to its list price.  It is shown monthly and for the year.

 

*Dec is                                                 94%

The 12 month/year average is             94%

Since January 1, 2009                          94%

 

**For the monthly figure this can be misleading. If there is a disproportionate amount of higher or lower sales, it skews the average in that direction.

 

*This can be misleading because, if the original price had been reduced earlier, it is not reflected in this ratio, only the new reduced price is and it does not reflect prices going up either.

 

All of these statistics canbe broken down by area, i.e. Courtenay City, Comox, Cumberland, Courtenay East, etc.  They can be broken down by priduct, i.e. single family, condo apartment, condo town house, lots, acreage, etc.

 

There is a wide variation of interpretation to these statistics and there are a number of other factors which influence them.  At Royal LePage, we pride ourselves on keeping you as informed as we can on the market.  We would be happy to meet with you to discuss any of these further.