sales counts fail to grow as activity reaches a decade-low Greater Victoria’s housing market experienced its seventh consecutive month of declining sales counts to finish the year, capping the fewest annual sales in a decade. With above-average inventory to start the year, a change in narrative could be on the horizon.
for the month and 31% higher than in December 2022. And while December typically posts the lowest inventory count for any month in the year, last month’s total listings were actually higher than in each of the first four months of 2023. As we begin 2024, the Bank of Canada will continue to play an outsized role in our local housing markets, with the timing and speed of rate cuts being an important factor. As monetary loosening begins, we can reasonably expect some of the sidelined demand to return to the market, boosting sales counts. But in addition, an above-average inventory level to start the year could also prove to be a catalyst for sales counts down the road, as buyers will have relatively more options available to them.
We noted in the last edition of the rennie review that sales counts had been on the decline in Greater Victoria for six consecutive months, and given that December typically sees relatively few sales and listings, a seventh consecutive month was likely. Well, that scenario did indeed play out to finish 2023, with sales counts declining through to the end of the year as buyers did not engage much with the residential real estate market, particularly in the second half of the year as high interest rates loomed large. There were 287 MLS sales in Greater Victoria in December, which was a 24% decline from November and, again, the seventh consecutive monthly drop. It was equal to last December’s depressed count and was 26% less than the past-decade average for the month. On an annual
basis, there were 5,885 sales throughout the region in 2023, which was 9% fewer than in 2022, 23% fewer than the past- decade average, and the lowest annual count since 2013. On the new listings front, December’s total of 323 was down 59% from November—a greater month-to-month decline than the typical 48%—and was 9% below the past 10-year average. On an annual basis, new listings fell by 1.9% between 2022 and 2023, to 11,014. This was 4% fewer than the past-decade average, and the lowest annual total since 2018. The result of decade-low sales activity even amongst below-average new listings was elevated inventory in December. Total listings at the end of the year were 18% higher than the long-run average
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