We recently took a look at the Comox Valley real estate market in an episode of Real Estate TV, the numbers are in! It can be useful to look at market updates to help us understand what’s going on with housing. It can also be confusing if you’ve never looked at one before. So, what does the Comox Valley real estate market have to say?
The Comox Valley real estate market is well into the buyers end of things, with our latest update showing about 7.3 months of single family home inventory. You may be wondering what that last part means. In real estate, we use single family home inventory to give us an idea of what the market Is trending towards. It’s a measure of how many listings are available. More months of inventory means the market is trending towards buyers, and fewer months of inventory means the market is trending towards sellers. In other words, fewer listings means sellers will have more buyers making offers, and more listings means buyers have lots of choice.
As it turns out, listings tell us a lot more than just whether the market is favouring buyers or sellers. Taking a look at our listings can tell us the home prices selling most often, how long they’re taking to sell and how many are selling in total. In 2018, the homes that sold the most were the ones in the 501-700k range. In December, homes were selling slower compared to the previous month and to the same month in 2017. This makes sense, as December is generally a slower month, and buyers now have more options to choose from.
We can also take a look at different listing categories to see what the market is up to. For example, attached town homes in December were averaging a sale price of $378,500, up from November as well as December 2017. On the other hand, the selling price of detached homes was averaging $516,100, down from the previous month as well as in December 2017. The HPI benchmark price in December was $508,100.
If you’re wondering what an HPI (Home Price Index) benchmark price is in real estate, look no further. Based on MLS® listings, the MLS® HPI benchmark price in real estate is the price for a typical property in that market. It’s a little bit more accurate than a basic average, but it’s not intended to predict the value of any one specific property. It does, however, provide a pretty good picture of prices in a particular area, such as the Comox Valley. Fun fact: 35 years ago, in 1983, the average sales price of the same kind of home was $58,300 and took 95 days to sell. In 2018, the average was $539,900 and took only 35 days to sell!
Market updates are a useful tool in real estate, and Comox Valley real estate is no different. It’s always helpful to see where the market is going. Want to know how we can sell your home? Looking to buy a property in the Comox Valley? We’d be thrilled to talk with you. Call us today!
