Region’s condo prices increase 24%, houses up 12%

The price of a home in Greater Victoria has increased significantly over the past year, according to a new survey released Wednesday by Royal LePage.

The survey, which looked at Canada’s major centres, noted the median sale price of a two-storey home in the region increased 12.3 per cent to $865,380 in the fourth quarter last year compared with the fourth quarter of 2016.

At the same time, the median price of a condominium increased 24.1 per cent to $487,406, and the price of a bungalow increased 20.7 per cent to $725,372.

“We are seeing record low housing supply. A shortage of listings and ever-increasing demand across all housing segments in Greater Victoria is placing a lot of upward pressure on home prices,” said Royal LePage Coast Capital Realty managing broker Bill Ethier.

Ethier said the result of that pressure is buyers are starting to move in greater numbers to the West Shore, where homes are more affordable.

It has also resulted in first-time home buyers altering their expectations and starting in small condos before moving up the real estate ladder to small homes outside of the core and then into the home they are dreaming about.

Strong prices were also recorded across the country, with residential real estate showing strong but slowing year-over-year price growth in the fourth quarter of 2017, according to the report.

The real estate company said that based on data in 53 markets, the price of a home in Canada increased 10.8 per cent year-overyear to $626,042 in the quarter.

Broken down by housing type, Royal LePage said the median price of a two-storey home rose 11.1 per cent year-over-year to $741,924, and the median price of a bungalow climbed 7.1 per cent to $522,963.

But the company said the median price of a condo grew faster than any other housing type studied, rising 14.3 per cent to $420,823 on a year-over-year basis due to gains in many of the largest markets.

In the Greater Toronto Area, the median price of a condo grew 19.5 per cent year-over-year to $476,421, while in the City of Toronto, the cost of a condo rose 19.6 per cent to $515,578.

In Greater Vancouver, condominiums followed a similar pattern during the quarter, rising 20.2 per cent to $651,885, while the median price of a condo unit in the City of Vancouver rose 18.7 per cent to $775,806.

In a separate report that examined luxury home sales, Sotheby’s International Realty said sales in Greater Toronto of homes over $1 million in 2017 slowed in the second half of the year following a move by the Ontario government to cool the market.

Sales of homes over $1 million in the GTA in the second half of the year were down 56 per cent compared with the first six months of 2017 and down 33 per cent compared with the second half of 2016.

Calgary saw overall home sales over $1 million increase 11 per cent year-over-year, while sales in the $1 million-plus real estate market increased 20 per cent in Montreal.

Meanwhile, Sotheby’s said sales of homes over $1 million in the Greater Vancouver area fell five per cent compared with 2016, while those over $4 million fell by 33 per cent.