January 2016, Market Analysis

January 2016, Market Analysis – Salt Spring Island

Salt Spring Island

A New Year…a new adventure.

2016 may turn out to be the authentic first post-meltdown year, for discretionary real estate sales.

Salt Spring Sales – Between 2008 & 2014

In the secondary home markets, between end of 2008 and end of 2014, there was scant activity. Although most sales in 2015 occurred under the label “entry level residential”, such sales volume may have doubled and listing inventory dramatically thinned. This is a marker of an authentic recovery. In the end, all property types/price points find their buyer.

Hard Asset Investing

It’s called hard asset investing, and is perhaps the antidote to years of quantitative easing. When currency uncertainties are a factor, ownership of a good real estate option is a solid route to safe haven investing.

This is an excellent opportunity for many to consider amplifying their property portfolio: to consider a recreational purchase as a means to grow their asset base. Undeveloped land opportunities may be the “best buy” venue.

Interest rates still remain at almost historic lows. Sellers might agree to hold a mortgage in order to facilitate a sale. Prices reduced over the past eight year downturn; recreational options are affordable. Vacation rentals can help to offset costs. And, there is the enjoyment aspect in this “always on” post-Internet world. A ferry to a retreat…hmmm…a recipe for a pleasing lifestyle?

BC Ferries

A Time For Action

A cottage. A garden. A kayak at a dock. A deck to invite one to ponder a view. A beach to stroll. A mountain trail to hike. A decompression chamber? Plus an appreciation component that makes the enjoyment also a good investment.

Timing is all. January reminds us of the message of the double faced Roman god who left his name on this beginning month: one face looked back to past days, and one viewed forward. A quick glance back shows a market finally in recovery. A glimpse forward sees a moment in time that invites participation.

A new year, a new adventure…will you answer the call? Time for that recreational purchase? Time to turn that daydream into reality? Time for action.

December 2015, Market Analysis

December 2015

Around Salt Spring Island This Holiday Season

This month is a time of celebration, and Salt Spring offers many opportunities to enjoy this season: Wintercraft at Mahon Hall, Village Light-Up with Chili Cook-off and Shop Late & Social, the Beaver Point and Fulford Hall craft fairs, Glowtini contest & Shop Late & Social, Saturday Market opens for Christmas, Sunday Family Shopping Day, and Merry Monday in Fulford Village (thank you, Valdy). Plus, Santa arrives on a carol ship. It’s an authentic taste of a country village Christmas…enjoy!

Snow – Salt Spring Island

About Real Estate…

Real Estate sales in that entry level priced category, whether undeveloped land or residential options, have continued to drive our market outcomes. Some upper tier priced residential sales have strengthened, too, between August and now. Thinning inventory, renewed buyer interest in a secondary home/recreational/discretionary marketplace, a safe haven seeking aspect to this interest, a return to hard asset investment opportunities…it all spells a market recovery.

Markets are cyclic in nature…there are also beginnings/middles/ends in transition periods. I think the “end” is occurring right now. We may see a fast return to sellers conditions by Spring, 2016. The traditional market “window” on Salt Spring and the Gulf Islands is March Break to the Canadian Thanksgiving Weekend. It is never without activity, but the bulk of viewings do take place within this timeline. Sales take place at any time.

Sales volume appears to have doubled over last year, and the inventory up to a certain price range has also thinned dramatically. These are two items that underscore a move upward, in a market trend. Plus, undeveloped land sales are finally slowly starting, and that’s the third item one looks for, if seeking corroboration that the recovery is authentic.

In 2014, the sales pricing for a buyer seemed to hit a ceiling at around 550,000. This year, it’s around 750,000…again, a sign of a strong improving trend.

As of November 30th, there were 235 sales this year.

The first 14 (between 100,000 and 225,000) were undeveloped lots.
26 residential options sold between 230,000 and 299,500.
42 residential sales fell between 300,000 and 395,000.
41 sold between 400,000 and 495,000.
37 sold between 500,000 and 599,000.
19 sold between 604,000 and 669,500.
16 sold between 700,000 and 799,000.
10 sold between 800,000 and 896,000.
6 sold between 900,000 and 960,000.
19 sold between 1,000,000 and 1,900,000.
one sold at 2,450,000.
one sold at 3,600,000.

Most of the sales over one million took place from July on.

When inventory starts to thin out, sales volume drops as the number of properties for sale is less…this is already happening in Victoria. This is when we see price stabilization and then increases.

I often think that the first two months of a year reflect the patterns of the last two months of the previous year. November/December have been busy. It appears that this rhythm will continue into January/February. It may take until March to truly see the tenor of the 2016 market.

There is always opportunity for a buyer at any point in time…there are properties available in all price ranges/types. More information on how the changing market trend can benefit you? Call me!

Whether selling or buying, your best interests are my motivation.

Wishing you a Merry Christmas this December and a very Happy New Year! Enjoy your special traditions.

November 2015, Market Analysis

November 2015

Fulford Harbour, Salt Spring Island

We are now sliding into the Fall-into-Winter moment.

There is often a perception that Salt Spring, the Gulf Islands, and Vancouver Island are seasonal markets…busier in late Spring and Summer…with less happening in the supposed “off season”. Not so.

It’s important to be presented to the marketplace at all times, in this post-Internet era. The Google search eye never sleeps. Someone, somewhere is searching.

In our secondary home/discretionary region, on this thin strip of the beautiful Pacific Northwest Coast, potential buyers now turn up, physically, between mid-summer and late fall…to view what had caught their attention earlier, on the net.

Many sales thus take place between August and end of the year. This catches many sellers off guard, if they have only a Spring/Summer mindset for a possible sale.

At this point, in a still busy sales time, we can point to continuing signs of an authentic market shift…in a strong upward direction:

Thinning inventory.
Rising price levels in the entry level residential priced category.
Sales of undeveloped land.
Stronger interest in higher end residential options…with more sales in this segment.
Buyer desire to buy a retirement or recreational or investment property.
Concerns over currencies making hard asset investments of interest.
Media reporting on all the above.

No matter the market trend in play at any time, there is always opportunity in a property purchase. Over time, a real estate investment is an important one. It is a wealth builder and a wealth preserver, although it is a “long tail” investment decision.

If you are considering a purchase of a Salt Spring Island, other Gulf Island, or Vancouver Island property, call me. My strong referral network will connect you to the best agents if your wish list lies in an area outside my circle of expertise. Benefit from my knowledge, of both inventory & of trends…let me help you to discover the right property for you.

The transition period between a buyers and a sellers market is rapidly closing, in our Gulf Islands area.

In the entry level priced residential properties (below $550,000, say?), we are already seeing sellers conditions. In undeveloped land sales, it’s still early days. Waterfront & superlative ocean view acreages always see earliest activity, in upper tier residential (over $900,000), and this pattern has just started (since August?)…waterfronts and equestrian friendly acreages are currently most in demand. The spread between list and sale price points is rapidly narrowing in all property types.

These are the key factors pointing to the close of the transition period: narrowing price spread, thinning inventory, sales volume increase.

Our coastal secondary home regions only began to see “soft” recovery in late 2014. Now, although still not even-handed, and many properties still not seeing “fast sales”, we are almost through the transition period…many people, locally, liken both our current real estate and our small business recovery to 2006/2007 patterns. Pre-economic collapse of 2008, then. All good news!

How may I help you to buy your special Salt Spring Island, Gulf Island, or Vancouver Island property? Call me! Look forward to working with you.

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

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.

September 2015, Market Analysis

Salt Spring Island, 2015

Real estate is always a sure-fire conversation starter. “What’s the market doing?” is a classic opener.

For those who have been holding secondary homes/recreational properties, during an almost eight year downturn, it’s welcome news indeed that the answer is now “Definitely improving!”.

All markets are cyclical in nature

All markets are cyclical in nature. Sellers would prefer to sell on a high, and buyers would love to buy on a low. Recognizing pivotal market trends is a tough call. It’s usual to understand things when they have already passed by…easier to enjoy that 20/20 vision of the past.

The recreational markets are particularly difficult to call. Unlike a primary residence/city marketplace, where one lives year-round, works there, sends children to school there, the secondary home/rural marketplaces are by choice areas.

Old Scott Road

No one “has to” buy a property on a Gulf Island or in a rural community on Vancouver Island. Such a decision is totally discretionary, and does require consumer confidence in economic outcomes.

The post-Internet world we all now inhabit has changed the fabric of recreational ownership. It’s probable that 100% of such purchases start with an Internet search, and possibly that start occurs a good two years before a purchase is even seriously entertained.

That internet search puts all recreational regions on the same level. The buyer is no longer specifically targeted to one area… all such regions are now in competition with each other. Choice is huge.

The difficulty with several evenly weighted choices is that the viewer of same may put off acting. A buyer wants to “be sure”, before choosing. Why this place? What about that one? How to decide? Too many choices may mean no decision is taken.

I often think that a happy visitor experience in a recreational area can lead to a real estate purchase there. Successful tourism outcomes seem to drive all secondary home economies.

So…tourist discoveries are apparently showing their best patterns since 2007. Real estate sales volume in rural/recreational regions has improved dramatically. We may be just at the beginning of a market trending upward, in such discretionary areas. This might be the brief equilibrium moment between a buyers and a sellers market.

The allure factor that encourages a discretionary property decision might be the opportunity to live, even part-time, in a kinder gentler place. To be self-sufficient. To remember our essential selves.

August 2015, Market Analysis

August on coastal B.C. is an alluring season…& this summer of sun & warmer than usual temperatures is calling forth visitor experiences throughout this beautiful region.

Salt Spring Inn

I’ve always thought that tourism leads to real estate sales in all secondary home/discretionary areas. During the 7 to 8 year “downturn”, tourist visits were also down.

Most businesses in discretionary regions are once again seeing good economic outcomes this season…many owners feel that things have returned to 2007 levels.

Real estate sales volume has doubled in most secondary home/by choice markets, in that entry level priced residential category.

Price Stabilization

Gulf Islands Hotel

Along with higher sales volume, there is thinning inventory in this same price segment. That usually leads to price stabilization & potential for price increases.

The upper tier priced residential market segment is seeing random sales again. Yes, prices are markedly lower than list, which may have seen several reductions if followed market down, but sales are slowly occurring.

Undeveloped land sales are also beginning to strengthen. Commercial opportunities are slowly catching attention. Both of these property categories are dependent on renewed buyer confidence.

While prices may not yet have stabilized to the point that definite patterns are in evidence, it is clear that the spread between list & sale pricing is rapidly narrowing, & in favour of the seller.

Late 2014 saw the beginning of consistent sales in that entry level residential category &, by late Spring 2015, this segment was seeing the transaction equation swinging to the seller side re sale pricings.

We seem to have become a summer/fall market now, in the Pacific Northwest coastal communities…whether the Gulf Islands, or Vancouver Island, or the Sunshine Coast. It’s important to be “out there“, if a seller, & year round (the buyer profile is mainly non-local in the discretionary areas), so that one is “discovered” & will bring the buyer to eventually choose…physicality, though, does seem to occur more frequently in summer & fall months.

We appear to be at a mid-point in a real estate recovery. Sales volume increases, stabilizing prices, renewed interest from buyers in holding second home/recreational property options…it all points the way to an authentic market recovery in all the secondary home markets.

Our low Canadian Dollar against the Pound & the U.S. Dollar may bring back that traditional buyer to our area. A “safe haven” seeking may be playing a part in showcasing our region as a viable destination choice. Our temperate climate does encourage self-sufficient outcomes.

How lucky we are to call this region “home”.

Li Read - Blog

January 2016, Market Analysis