Blog

FEBRUARY 2025 MARKET UPDATE

NANAIMO, BC – The Vancouver Island Real Estate Board (VIREB) recorded 493 unit sales (all property types) in February 2025, the same as one year ago. Year-over-year active listings (all property types) rose by three per cent, climbing to 3,235 from 3,153 in February 2024.

In the single-family category (excluding acreage and waterfront), 239 homes sold in February, down four per cent from one year ago and up 17 per cent from the previous month. Sales of condo apartments last month came in at 60, an increase of 12 per cent year over year and up 30 per cent from January. In the row/townhouse category, 61 units changed hands in February, up five per cent from one year ago and increasing by 42 per cent over January.

Active listings of single-family homes were 975 last month, up from the 915 posted one year ago. VIREB’s inventory of condo apartments was 376 last month compared to 298 in February 2024. There were 245 row/townhouses for sale last month compared to 328 the previous year.

VIREB CEO Jason Yochim reports that sales of all property types in February were unchanged from one year ago.

“Open houses are busy, phones are ringing, and REALTORS® are showing homes, but some buyers are holding back, which we attribute to the economic uncertainty unleashed by threatened American tariffs that have now become a reality,” says Yochim. “However, forecasts indicate that British Columbia won’t be affected as much as other parts of Canada. Vancouver Island is also somewhat insulated from any unpredictability around mortgage rates due to its large population of retirees, many of whom don’t require mortgages.”

The British Columbia Real Estate Association (BCREA) stated in its latest Market Intelligence Report (click here to read) that a 25 per cent tariff on all Canadian imports to the United States would seriously affect the Canadian and B.C. economies. That said, BCREA anticipates that in the most likely scenario, the B.C. housing market would see a temporary decline in activity before posting a robust recovery as mortgage rates decline substantially, thereby unleashing pent-up demand.

Moving on to prices, the board-wide benchmark price (MLS® Home Price Index) of a single-family home was $773,200 in February 2025, up two per cent from one year ago. In the apartment category, the benchmark price was $404,600 last month, up two per cent from the previous February. The benchmark price of a townhouse in February was $541,800, up one per cent from the prior year.

Regardless of market conditions, connecting with a local REALTOR® can help smooth the way to a successful real estate transaction.

For more information and full update, check out the following resources on REALTOR Link®.

FEBRUARY 2025 Statistics Package

Our FEBRUARY 2025 Market Update is provided above and available on YouTube; it summarizes our housing market in about two minutes.

Please note: The Vancouver Island Real Estate Board (VIREB) transitioned to a new MLS® System in July 2020 and now uses a significantly different data model, which has affected our categories and terminology. For the boardsupplied graphs, single-family is now referred to as single-family detached, apartment as condo apartment, and townhouse as row/townhouse, which now includes patio homes. However, when reporting HPI numbers, VIREB still refers to single-family, apartment, and townhouse in the media release.