January Real Estate Market Starts on Solid Ground
Victoria’s real estate market had a solid start in January, re-establishing momentum after the holiday season. Total MLS® sales in January were 342, a 16.3% increase over January 2013. The MLS® HPI single family home benchmark price for the entire Greater Victoria region was $481,200 in January, a 1.7% decrease when compared to the January 2013 value of $489,400.

Total waterfront single family homes sold in January: 7
Total non-waterfront single family homes sold in January: 186
Total single family homes sold over $1 million in January: 10 (1 over $3 Million)

Steady Trends Continue in the Greater Vancouver Housing Market
The first month of 2014 saw home sales and listing totals outpace historical averages in the Greater Vancouver housing market.
Last month’s sales were 7.2% above the 10-year sales average for the month. With the sales-to-active-listings ratio at 14%, the region remains in balanced market territory. Sales of detached properties in January 2014 reached 728, an increase of 34.3% from the 542 detached sales recorded in January 2013, and a 10.5% increase from the 659 units sold in January 2012. The benchmark price for a detached property in Greater Vancouver increased 3.2% from January 2013 to $929,700.

Positive Start to the New Year
Sales activity and prices improved over 2013. On the heels of a strong year of sales growth, January sales in the city of Calgary totaled 1,440 units, a 17% increase over the previous year. The unadjusted single family benchmark price was $476,700 in January, a 0.95% increase over the previous month and a 9.1% increase over the previous year.

Local Housing Sales and Inventory up in Stable Market
On the Edmonton MLS® system, residential home inventory rose 16% in January. Typically just over 1,800 homes in the Edmonton CMA (census metropolitan area) come onto the market in January. Last month’s listings of 1,842 were higher than the 783 listed in December. Sales figures (adjusted) of 885 properties (820 reported) were higher than a typical January and higher than sales in December and January 2013. The increased inventory of 3,537 (up from 3,049 in December), kept prices stable in all housing categories.
The residential sales-to-listing ratio was 45% and the average days-on-market was 61 days in January compared to 73 days in January 2013. There have been four property sales over a $1 million already this year but half of the SFDs sold in January were sold at or below the median price of $385,000.

Average Selling Price Up Strongly in January
Home ownership in the Greater Toronto Area remains affordable and there are many people looking to purchase a home. In January, the number of homes listed for sale was down quite strongly compared to last year, which means that it was difficult for some buyers to find a home. Greater Toronto Area REALTORS® reported 4,135 sales through the Toronto MLS® system in January 2014. This result was down by 2.2% in comparison to January 2013. New listings entered into the system were down over the same period by 16.6 % to 8,822. The average selling price for January 2014 sales was $526,528 – up by more than 9% compared to $482,080 in January 2013.