October 2015, Market Analysis

October 2015

October is a beautiful month on Salt Spring and the Gulf Islands. Vancouver Island (which I always think of as the largest of the Gulf Islands) shares this Pacific Northwest Coast autumn beauty.>

Salt Spring Island

Salt Spring Island


The Canadian Thanksgiving celebration takes place in mid-October, and always sets the Harvest theme.

On Salt Spring, the Saturday Market continues until month’s end, and the Tuesday Farmer’s Market showcases the harvest produce. Apple Fest is the first October annual event, and then Sip and Savour (held this year on Thanksgiving Weekend…restaurants are offering special wine pairing dinners plus harvest themed opportunities…local fare always in the forefront… Wine tastings at the 3 local vineyards, cidery & brewery offerings available, plus farmgate stands are open throughout the Island).

The October weather varies from late summer to “real Fall”…the days are shorter…crisp evenings mean stargazing. Plus, evening classes, clubs and hobby groups, choral entertainments, ArtSpring’s theatre, dance, music, speakers program…all things that are not to be missed…and the Arts Council’s amazing SNAAP puts Salt Spring on the artistic map, Canada-wide, this October.

Salt Spring is truly an authentic year-round destination. October is that “season of mists and mellow fruitfulness” that the poet Keats wrote about, centuries ago. Much to enjoy!

Real estate remains active in the Fall season. Often, people look at properties in Spring/Summer and then decide to “act” in the Fall/early Winter. Salt Spring and the Gulf Islands and Vancouver Island communities are, in the main, secondary home/discretionary markets. Decisions to buy are “by choice” decisions.

The post-Internet era has delivered huge choice to buyers in this coastal region. Why here? What about there? Choice creates time lags in the decision process, regardless of market trend in play.

The recovery is seriously underway in our “by choice” coastal areas…thinning inventory, renewed interest in undeveloped land opportunities, a renewed interest in upper-tier priced residential options…these are all pointers to an authentic recovery. It is still not an even-handed recovery, and prices have not yet stabilized. What can be said, at the beginning of October: the direction is “up”.

For a detailed report of sales to date, please contact me.

The late summer through fall market delivers consistent sales. Between early October and end of year, many more sales will take place. These will create a new update report in time for projected early Spring activity. The last three months of the year are often mirrored in the first three months of the following year. October/November/December of 2015, then, presage the early opening days of 2016.

The momentum is upward. The inventory is low in any particular property segment. Prices are beginning to stabilize.

Are we on the way to sellers market conditions? Possibly by Fall, 2016. Markets are always moving, in that alluring wave pattern. We appear to be cresting up.