February 2022, Salt Spring Island Market Analysis

February brings with it the whispered promise of Spring. It also offers Family Day Holiday Weekend and Valentine’s Day.

February can also be a month that offers financial planning seminars. What used to be in-person lectures and trade fairs have become zoom presentations and podcasts.

Were the serendipitous encounters among in-person attendees often more meaningful than the prepared presentations? Hmmm…. Have we now become a culture of being lectured to? No more idea-sharing with savvy strangers at the live events?

It’s early days to decide on the tone of the 2022 real estate market. In the secondary home/rural regions, such as Salt Spring and the Gulf Islands, there has been a traditional seasonality of listings and sales.

Although buyers can turn up throughout the year (and they do), there is a pattern of consistent activity in such recreational areas between March Break (mid-March) and the Canadian Thanksgiving (mid-October). It will be interesting to see if a number of new listings will appear for that March “early Spring” market.

At this very beginning of February, the extraordinarily low inventory that has characterized secondary home real estate markets everywhere, between mid-2020 and late 2021, continues on Salt Spring and the Gulf Islands.

Buyer Interest Remains Strong

The few sales in January, 2022, may have had their beginnings in late 2021 and simply completed in January…perhaps not new business then. A few of those sales saw price reductions from list prices, and that was a difference from many full or “over ask” outcomes that occurred in early to mid 2021.

Buyer interest remains strong, most owners in rural areas still do not want to be sellers, and the flight from urban to rural remains the propeller to action.

The authentic ability to work from home means it’s possible to live in apart places. Choice is there for consumers. Many buyers on the Gulf Islands continue to be from Vancouver/Lower Mainland.

Salt Spring Island Market Statistics

Residential

• 39 residential listings – 159,900 to 14,000,000 – Thirteen of these listings are below one million – two are in Brinkworthy (a 55+ modular home development and one does not own the pad) – five of them are not yet built (the final phase at Summerside townhomes)
• Ten of the residential options are listed between one and two million
• Eight are listed between 2 and 3 million
• One is listed at 3,988,000 and one at 4,595,000.
• Three are listed between 6 and 7 million.
• One is listed at 11,975,000
• Two are listed at 14,000,000

Land

• 24 land listings.
• 16 of these are below one million.
• Six of them are between one and two million
• One is listed at 2,995,000
• One at 4,900,000

Sales

• 10 sales to date
• Seven of these were between 330,000 and 792,000
• Three were between 1,500,000 and 1,784,000.

2022 may be a year of flux.

Globally Posturings & Uncertainty

Globally, there are anxious posturings: troop build-ups, supply line interruptions, stock market ricochets, inflation, pandemic changes to everyday life, interest rate potential increases, changes to city/town-scapes as populations work from home and shop online…the new world is evolving under our feet, it seems, and there is no solid road map yet, going forward.

Uncertainty may simply be the surround sound of our post-pandemic time.

IT/robotics remain interesting and tech advances are well underway. Immersive video may be the key to real estate sales from buyers not physically present to view. Stay tuned, as the quality and ease of the tech side continues to evolve. An exciting time to be present, and the speed of change makes it seem like 2015 is already the very distant past. Hmmm……

The Promise of Spring

February. Yes, the calendar says it’s still winter, but the great Pacific Northwest Coast often delivers the haphazard promise of Spring.

Catch those sunny clear days…check out the hiking/walking trails, plan your “real Spring” garden, enjoy the gift of lengthening days, give yourself a treat and do day trips to nearby Gulf Islands or Vancouver Island, walk the Fernwood Beach at low tide, enjoy sunsets from Vesuvius Beach, take yourself and a friend to one of our super restaurants and enjoy the inspiring views from their windows.

Lots to do and to enjoy on Salt Spring and the Gulf Islands at this hiatus time of year. The promise of “Discover Yourself Here” is true…check it out.