Greater Victoria’s real estate market saw little change in prices in July, with sales tracking closely to June numbers, according to the Victoria Real Estate Board.
Board chair Laurie Lidstone said Thursday that the steady number of sales may have surprised some who expected that summer vacations would take more buyers out of the market.
The total number of properties for sale dropped only marginally from June, Lidstone said.
It’s not unusual for listings to drop at this time of year, she said, but it’s a trend “we’ll keep an eye on because inventory levels are crucial to keeping our market balanced.”
There were 3,348 active listings at the end of July, down by 3.2 per cent from June, but significantly up from the 2,419 active listings in July 2023.
Overall, 650 properties changed hands through the Victoria Real Estate Board’s multiple listing service in July. That’s up by 9.2 per cent from July 2023 sales.
Sales of condominiums rose by 6.5 per cent from July last year with 213 units sold. Sales of single-family homes climbed by 8.9 per cent from July 2023, with 319 sold.
The benchmark value for a single-family home in the Victoria core in July dropped by two per cent to $1.296 million from $1.32 million the same month last year. It was up slightly from June of this year, when it was $1.295 million.
For condominiums, the benchmark value in Victoria’s core area was $567,800 in July, practically unchanged from $567,900 in June. In July of last year, the benchmark was higher at $571,500.
The core area refers to Victoria, Saanich, Oak Bay, Esquimalt and View Royal.
The total value of all sales for properties sold through the board’s multiple listing service amounted to $631.159 million for July.
