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Another year has come and gone and we are now well into 2019.
Reviewing real estate sales activity for the previous year helps to get a feel for what to expect for the 2019 market.
Keeping abreast of what is happening in the Nanaimo real estate market is important for both buyers and sellers. For buyers looking at real estate in Nanaimo the main concerns are price, selection and timing. For people selling their Nanaimo home, the important factors are timing, level of inventory (competition) on the market and how much they can ask for their home.
Based on the stats that VIREB ( Vancouver Island Real Estate Board) have calculated, I am able to summarize the market as follows:
Below are the types of real estate sold in 2018 (source VIREB) in Nanaimo:
Property Type # of sold unit’s Average price
Single Family 1212 units $556,820
Condo (Apt) 363 $302,104
Condo (Patio) 89 $448,001
Condo (Townhouse) 206 $340,600
Lots 62 $284,637
The single family home market in 2018 was off a little from 2017. In fact, the number of unit sales were 24% fewer than they were in 2017. Houses were taking 7% more days to sell however, the average sold price in 2018 was 7% higher than in 2017.
One interesting statistic in the single family home market is the Sell/List ratio. The Sell/List ratio is the percentage of houses that were listed that actually sold. In 2018 the Sell/List ratio was 57% which was considerably lower than the 2017 ratio of 70%.
To get an idea of the average sale price of single family homes, broken down by Nanaimo neighbourhoods, please refer to the attached graph.
Sales of apartment style condos were down by 11% from 2017 and were taking 42% more days to sell than in 2017. Again, the average sales price was 11% higher than in 2017.
Sales of townhouses were also down by 24% from 2017. They were taking 12% fewer days to sell and the average sale price was 7% higher in 2018 than 2017
The sales of patio homes were up by 53% in 2018 over 2017. This was partly due to a couple of new patio homes complexes that were being built in 2018. The average sale price for patio homes was 10% higher in 2018 as compared to 2017.
Overall the market in 2018 was steady albeit a bit slower in the way of unit sales than it was in 2017. Even though unit sales were down we still saw a continuing trend in rising prices.
Absorption Rates for single family homes in 2018 as compared to 2017
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.
The absorption rate for single family homes in Nanaimo as at Dec. 31, 2018 compared to Dec. 31, 2017
Dec. 31, 2018 –24.12 weeks to sell the inventory that was currently on hand at the end of December.
Dec. 31, 2017 – 6.86 weeks to sell the inventory that was currently on hand at the end of December.
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.
In December 2017 we were still experiencing a strong seller’s market. However, in December 2018 the absorption rate of 24.12 weeks indicates that we are now experiencing a balanced 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.
For additional information on the Nanaimo real estate market please give me a call.
