Nanaimo market stats as of October 31, 2021

The sales stats at the end of Oct. 2021 indicate that the Nanaimo housing market is still a strong Seller’s market. We are still seeing multiple offers in all prices of homes.

The biggest changes year-to-date seem to be that at the end of October 2021, 24 % fewer homes were listed, Nanaimo house prices were up over October 2020 by 45 %, the average sale was 102.5% of asking price, and unit sales were down by 26 % as compared to October 2020. 

The absorption rate indicates that we are still experiencing a strong Sellers market which was also happening in October 2020. 

The current market is hard on home buyers in Nanaimo as its proving to be incredibly competitive with inventory levels remaining low.

Nanaimo housing market -

Based on the stats that VIREB (Vancouver Island Real Estate Board) have supplied, I am able to summarize the market as follows:

Below are the types of real estate sold in October 2021 (source VIREB) in Nanaimo:

Property Type    # of sold unit’s        Average price
Single Family         102                        $971,930
Condo (Apt)            33                         $449,491            
Condo (Patio)          2                          $601,500
Condo (Townhouse) 43                       $581,697
Lots                         7                          $1,007,857

For single family homes that sold in October 2021 the average home took 25 days to sale as compared to October 2020 when it took 27 days.

Sales of apartment style condos were up compared to sales in October 2020 and were taking 16 days to sell in October 2021 compared to 33 in October 2020. 

Sales of townhouses were up compared to unit sales in October 2020 and were taking 7 days to sell in October 2021 compared to 21 days in October 2020. 

Sales of patio homes were down as compared to unit sales in October 2020 and were taking 3 days to sell in October 2021 compared to 7 days in October 2020. 

Overall, the market in October 2021 was up. The biggest change was the increase in average price in all property types year-to-date.

Absorption Rates for single family homes in October 2021 as compared to October 2020.

The above stats are informative but to get a true picture of how the local market is doing we need to calculate absorption rates. The definition of absorption rates is the number of weeks it takes to sell the current real estate inventory in Nanaimo at the present rate of sales.

Below you will find a comparison between absorption rates this year versus last year.

Nanaimo Absorption rate

October 2021 – 5.69 weeks to sell the inventory that was currently on hand at the end of October
October 2020 – 7.14 weeks to sell the inventory that was currently on hand at the end of October

As a rule of thumb, a Sellers market has less than 3 months of inventory, a balanced market has between 3-6 months of inventory and a Buyer’s market has over 6 months.

The absorption rate indicates that we are still experiencing a strong Seller’s market

A Balanced market is just that; a market where there are a similar number of buyer’s looking to buy real estate as there are sellers hoping to sell. A Seller’s market on the other hand is a market where supply is less than the demand. This type of market is a market that can sometimes give a Seller the advantage.

For additional information on the Nanaimo real estate market please give me a call.