Restaurant For Salt, Salt Spring Island
June 2017
The interest in all secondary home/recreational markets continues…on Vancouver Island, on the Sunshine Coast, and on the Gulf Islands.
Salt Spring Island remains a sought-after destination…it is a “stand alone” community, with a year-round lifestyle opportunity, and is very attractive to those seeking more than just a “summer place”.
Salt Spring offers a hospital and good related health segment. There are three elementary schools, a middle and a senior school. There is an indoor pool, an arts centre (ArtSpring), a modern Library/Resource Centre, and myriad park hiking/walking trails to explore. In the heart of some of the best protected boating waters in the world, Salt Spring Island is beautifully sited in the Salish Sea.
Salt Spring Island, Skywater
With a micro-climate that supports vineyards, olive grove, orchards, small farm holdings, it is possible to enjoy a self-sufficient living choice.
The real estate market, though experiencing a fits and starts rhythm (offshore tax in Vancouver plus a once every twenty years burst of “real winter” caused significant pauses, approximately six months in total) in 2016…yet now, in retrospect, that 2016 year is showing itself as the sales volume increase year.
So far, in 2017, it continues to be about lack of inventory, continuing high buyer demand, and subsequent price stabilization…it may be that price increases will be a feature of the final 2017 market report.
A buyer’s market simply means lots of inventory and few buyers…prices remain suppressed. A seller’s market means little inventory, lots of buyers seeking property, and resulting buoyant pricings. It is always about supply and demand in a market driven industry.
June is an interesting month. A divide between winter-spring and summer-fall markets. Often quiet in the first three weeks, the serious “season” begins in that final week. July/August/September remain very active in sales, in all the secondary home/discretionary markets.
To date, from January 1 to close of May, the sales on Salt Spring are:
- 10 between 159,000 and 199,500.
- 12 between 200,000 and 299,000.
- 18 between 305,000 and 396,000.
- 22 between 400,000 and 487,000.
- 17 between 500,000 and 599,000.
- 9 between 625,000 and 690,000.
- 5 between 710,000 and 769,000.
- 8 between 800,000 and 899,000.
- 2 between 900,000 and 945,250.
- 7 between 1,075,000 and 1,750,000.
- 3 between 2,200,000 and 2,500,000.
The listing inventory (residential/lots-acreages/commercial) remains very “thin”. Although prices have not yet gone up, they have stabilized…in many cases, properties are selling at full list price. Back-up offers are in play and a very few have been in mini-bidding war territory.
The last half of the year will showcase the rhythm of sales for 2017. Am not sure when we went to a late summer/fall market for actual sales, but that is the current tone. People may view earlier…but they often act later. Hmmmm….
