Real Estate Activity Continues Ahead of Spring Market
Real estate market activity in the first two months of 2014 remained slightly ahead of the same period in 2013.
Total MLS® sales in February were 412, a 4.6% increase over February 2013 when 394 units sold and a 20.5% increase over the 342 sales reported to the Victoria Real Estate Board (VREB) in January 2014.
“It’s encouraging that sales activity continues to increase as we move towards a healthy spring market,” noted VREB President, Tim Ayres. “2013 spring sales were quite strong and we’re hoping for a similar level of activity this year.”
The MLS® HPI single-family home benchmark price for the entire Greater Victoria region was $483,400 in February, a 1.4% decrease when compared to the February 2013 value of $490,100.

Home Sales and Listings Continue to Follow Historical Averages
In the first two months of 2014, the Greater Vancouver housing market has maintained the steady pace set throughout 2013.
The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV) reports that residential property sales in Greater Vancouver reached 2,530 on the Multiple Listing Service® (MLS®) in February 2014. This represents a 40.8% increase compared to the 1,797 sales recorded in February 2013, and a 43.8% increase compared to the 1,760 sales in January 2014.
Last month’s sales total mirrors the 10-year sales average for February of 2,547, with just 17 sales separating the two figures.
The sales-to-active-listings ratio currently sits at 18.9% in Greater Vancouver, a 4.9% increase from last month.
Sales of detached properties in February 2014 reached 1,032, an increase of 46.6 per cent from the 704 detached sales recorded in February 2013, and a 6.3% decrease from the 1,101 units sold in February 2012. The benchmark price for detached properties increased 3.5% from February 2013 to $932,900.

Sales Growth Boosted by Condo Activity
Following double digit gains last month, sales growth in the city of Calgary totaled 1,854 units, or an 8.68% increase over the same period in 2013. Slower sales growth resulted in a reduction of listings in the single family sector. However, single family sales still totalled 1,230 units, a 1.9% increase over the previous year. Despite the pull back in the single family sector, condominium sales continue to surge. After the first two months of the year, both condominium apartment and townhouse sales increased by 28% compared to last year.

Housing Sales Pick Up in February
The average condo price was up just 1.6% from January to $238,854 with the median sale price at $224,750. Single family detached homes showed stronger gains rising 2.7%, (which could be contributed to the 8 properties that sold over one million dollars in February compared to 3 in February 2013) at an average price of $425,782 in February ($416,344 in January). Duplex and rowhouse prices were also up month-over-month at $335,625 on average with the median sale price at $338,250. The all-residential average price was $359,973 (up 5.3% from February 2013) and the median sale price was $338,250.

MLS Sales Up in February
Greater Toronto Area REALTORS® report sales were up by 2.1% compared to the same period last year.
The average selling price for February 2014 sales was up by 8.6% to $553,193, compared to the average of $509,396 reported for February 2013. The MLS® Home Price Index (HPI) Composite Benchmark was up by 7.3 % year-over-year.
“While the strong price growth experienced over the last year should prompt an improvement in the supply of listings, sellers’ market conditions will continue to prevail this year. Home prices, on average, will trend upwards at a pace well-above the rate of inflation. The impact of strong price growth on affordability will be mitigated by low borrowing costs,” said Jason Mercer, TREB’s Senior Manager of Market Analysis.