Tuesday, August 14, 2007

Summer Real Estate Sales Sizzle
Sales of homes and other properties in the Greater Victoria area continued to show exceptional strength last month reaching the highest level for the month of July in over 15 years. There were 922 sales through the Victoria Real Estate Board’s Multiple Listing Service® (MLS®) in July, up over 36 per cent from the 677 sales in the same month a year ago. There were 949 sales in June of this year. Meantime, 27 sales of over $1 million helped push the average price of single family homes sold in July to another record high of $574,753; the median price was considerably lower at $515,000; the six-month average was $560,393.

Victoria Real Estate Board President, Bev McIvor, says the continued strength of the market is remarkable, "Despite the significant increases in prices that we have seen in recent years, the total number of sales shows that demand remains very strong. The number of sales so far this year is running over 11 per cent higher than in the first seven months of last year while the six month average price for single family homes has risen over seven per cent since the beginning of the year."

The average price for all condominiums sold in July was $306,668; the average for the last six months was $311,568. The median was again lower at $268,000. The average price for townhomes last month was $402,558; the average for the last six months was $397,434. The median was $379,900.

MLS® sales last month included 499 single family homes, 241 condominiums, 106 townhomes and 22 manufactured homes.

There were 3,402, properties listed for sale on the MLS® system at the end of last month, up from the 3,318 properties in the same month a year ago.