Real estate sales numbers in the qathet region for July 2022 decreased considerably from the same month in the previous year.
“Home sales have dropped sharply over the past two months as significant interest rate increases have boosted mortgage rates and reduced affordability for many buyers,” said Neil Frost, president of the Powell River-Sunshine Coast Real Estate Board. “Obviously, there is still some activity taking place, but we’re currently in a place where many would-be buyers have stepped back to re-evaluate their positions and sellers must continue to revise their pricing expectations.
"We’ve seen a healthy influx of new supply coming to market, which has lifted overall inventories from record lows and bodes well for when buyers decide to return to the market.
Frost said house prices are starting to ease off a little bit.
“What I expect us to see in the next month and into September is demand for move in-ready family homes, and that they will hold their value,” he added. “In Westview we’ve seen some decent sales recently. People are going to continue to want to come here. We’re still a desirable area.”
Frost said it will be interesting to see sales results for August. He said that traditionally, it has been a slow month, but during the past two years, there has been stronger activity.
“It’s hard to tell if this is the new normal because this is how every August used to be,” said Frost.
In the single family residential category, in July 2022, there were 17 sales, amounting to $11,627,900, compared to 29 sales in July 2021, valued at $15,533,450.
In the mobiles and manufactured home category, there were no sales in July 2022, and there were five sales, valued at $1,918,000, in July 2021.
In single family condos, apartments and duplexes, there were two sales in July 2022, valued at $949,900, compared to five sales in July 2021, valued at $1,843,700.
Totals for the residential side show 19 sales, valued at $12,577,800 in July 2022, compared to 39 sales in July 2021, valued at $19,295,150.
In terms of non-residential sales, there was one parcel of vacant land sold in July 2022, valued at $505,000, compared to five parcels in July 2021, valued at $927,400.
Grand totals show 20 sales in July 2022, valued at $13,082,800, compared to 44 sales in July 2021, valued at $20,222,550.
In terms of average selling price, the value in July 2022 was $683,994, with an average of 26 days on the market, compared to $545,918, and an average of 32 days on the markets, in July 2021.
There were 73 new listings for residential properties in July 2022, compared to 55 in July 2021. The number of active listings for residential at the end of July 2022 was 156.
The number of total active listings, consisting of residential and non-residential listings at the end of July 2022, was 240.
Powell River-Sunshine Coast buyer statistics in July 2022 show there were seven local buyers and 10 from out of the area. Statistics for year-to-date in 2022 show 41.2 per cent local buyers and 58.8 per cent out of area buyers. This compares to 37.9 per cent local buyers in all of 2021 and 61.9 per cent from out of area.
Of the out of area buyers in July 2022, one was from the lower Sunshine Coast, one was from Vancouver Island, five were from the Lower Mainland, one was from Squamish and three were from Alberta.
