Victoria home sales fall 35 per cent, benchmark prices rise

Downtown Victoria is pictured on Jan. 12, 2022. (CTV News)

Home sales in Greater Victoria dropped last month by 35 per cent since June 2021, with 612 properties sold compared to 942 properties last year, according to the region's real estate board,

Sales also fell month over month, with 19.6 per cent fewer homes sold in June than in May.

Condominium sales fell 40.2 per cent since last year while sales of single-family homes fell by 31.4 per cent, according to the Victoria Real Estate Board.

Meanwhile, the benchmark price for a single-family home in Victoria's core rose to $1,464,400 last month, a 23 per cent increase from June 2021 and a slight increase from May's benchmark of $1,446,400, according to the board.

The benchmark value for a condominium in the area in June 2021 was $495,900 while the benchmark value for the same condominium in June 2022 increased by 29.7 per cent to $643,100, up from a May value of $633,800.

The benchmark price for a single-family home on the West Shore rose to $1,148,300 last month from $888,700 in June 2021, while the price of a condo in the area rose from $442,200 in 2021 to $545,900 last month.

"The market feels a bit more normal right now," said board president Karen Dinnie-Smyth in a news release announcing the June sales.

"We have seen more inventory come onto the market to the extent that we are back to numbers closer to those which we saw in pre-pandemic 2020."

The inventory of available housing rose to 2,059 active residential listings at the end of June on the Victoria Real Estate Board Multiple Listing Service, a 15.9 per cent increase over May and a 49.7 per cent increase from last June.

"It may seem counterintuitive to continue to talk about the need for supply at a time when inventory is rising," Dinnie-Smyth said.

"We must keep the conversation alive, and we urge all levels of government to continue to aggressively address the housing supply situation. We need more supply of all types of housing."