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JANUARY 2024 MARKET UPDATE

NANAIMO, BC – Last month, 152 single-family homes sold in the Vancouver Island Real Estate Board (VIREB) area, down six per cent from one year ago and up slightly from December 2023. Sales of condo apartments in January came in at 47, increasing by 12 per cent year over year and up 21 per cent from December. In the row/townhouse category, 40 units changed hands last month, an increase of 14 per cent from one year ago and up three per cent from the previous month.

Active listings of single-family homes were 807 in January, down from 861 one year ago. VIREB’s inventory of condo apartments was 258 last month, up from 239 one year ago. There were 282 row/townhouses for sale last month compared to 239 one year ago.

“We had a fairly normal January, with unit sales of 354 compared to 340 last year,” says Ian Mackay, 2024 Chair. “REALTORS® are reporting that plenty of listings are hitting the system, and we’re sensing a lot of optimism regarding the spring market.”

However, interest rates and the mortgage stress test (Guideline B-20) continue to deter some buyers, as does the pervasive low inventory in the VIREB area, which limits the selection of affordable homes.

Mackay, who works primarily in Parksville-Qualicum, notes that properties listed in a moderate range, are selling remarkably quickly.

The board-wide benchmark price (MLS® Home Price Index) of a single-family home was $749,000 in January 2024, up six per cent from one year ago and down one per cent from December. In the apartment category, the benchmark price was $380,600 last month, a slight decrease from the previous January and down one per cent from December. The benchmark price of a townhouse in January was $546,600, up two per cent from one year ago and a slight increase from December.

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®.

JANUARY 2024 Statistics Package

 Our JANUARY 2024 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.