Major Cities Report
Victoria
Spring Sales Start Early in the Victoria BC Real Estate Market
542 properties sold in the Victoria region this February, a 31.6% increase compared to the 412 properties sold in the same month last year and a 54.4% increase compared to the 351 properties sold last month in January. There were 3,480 active listings for sale on the Multiple Listing Service® at the end of February, 7.7% fewer than the 3,770 active listings in February 2014. The Multiple Listing Service® Home Price Index benchmark value for a single family home in the Victoria Core February last year was $549,700. The benchmark value for the same home this month has increased by 1.33% to $557,000.
Vancouver
Home Buyer and Seller Activity Outpaces Historical Averages in February
Conditions within the Metro Vancouver* housing market continued to strengthen in February as home sale and listing totals came in well above the region’s ten-year average for the month. The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV) reports that residential property sales in Greater Vancouver reached 3,061 on the Multiple Listing Service® (MLS®) in February 2015. This represents a 21% increase compared to the 2,530 sales recorded in February 2014, and a 60% increase compared to the 1,913 sales in January 2015. Last month’s sales were 20.2% above the 10-year sales average for the month. New listings for detached, attached and apartment properties in Metro Vancouver totalled 5,425 in February. This represents a 15.4% increase compared to the 4,700 new listings reported in February 2014. The sales-to-active-listings ratio in February was 25.7%. This is the highest that this ratio has been in Metro Vancouver since March 2011.
Calgary
Inventory Climbs in Calgary’s Housing Market
Year-over-year new listings growth eased from 37% last month to 9% in February. However, as sales activity remained below long term averages for the month, Calgary inventory levels rose to 5,474 units in February. While housing supply levels continue to be higher than we have seen in this market for some time, they remain below February 2008 record highs of nearly 7,000 units. City of Calgary sales totalled 1,217 in February, a 34% decline over the previous year’s activity. While sales fell across all product types, the rate of decline was higher in the apartment and attached sectors of the city.
Edmonton
Prices Remain Strong as Spring Sales Pick Up
Residential listings are up 4% compared to January. Average prices maintained positive growth month over month and year over year in the Edmonton Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) market. The all residential price was up a mere $38 from January (up almost 1% from February 2014). Single family houses averaged $430,770 up 0.84% over January and 1.17% over the same month last year. Condo prices continued upward with a 1.2% increase over January and 4.7% increase from February 2014. Duplex and Rowhouses were down 10.55% from January but are up 0.68% from the prior year.
Toronto
Robust Sales and Price Growth in February
Greater Toronto Area REALTORS® reported 6,338 home sales through the TorontoMLS system in February 2015. This result represented a substantial 11.3% year-over-year increase compared to February 2014. The overall supply of homes for sale, as measured by the count of active listings at the end of February 2015, was down by 8.7% compared to the same count in February 2014. This means that market conditions became tighter, leading to more competition between buyers.
The overall average selling price for February 2015 home sales was $596,163– up by 7.8% compared to the average for February 2014. Driving this increase was the detached market segment. In the City of Toronto, the average detached selling price moved above $1 million dollars for the first time in a calendar month. |
