December 2017, Salt Spring
So…here we are at the end of a very haphazard / fits and starts year. Many pauses along the way…..and not all of them market related.
Offshore purchase tax in Metro-Vancouver in early August 2016 did stop Salt Spring’s spring/early summer (mid-March to end of July 2016) long awaited market recovery…Vancouver sellers had become our buyers. It took time for the effects of that tax to be digested (possibly until May, 2017). The tax did affect outcomes well into 2017.
The once-every-twenty-years La Niña weather pattern, that delivers a taste of “real winter” to the Pacific Northwest Coast, created cold/snow/cool/rain between December 3, 2016 and May 15, 2017…effectively erasing any 2017 Spring Market. Both tourism and real estate activity were affected.
Salt Spring Island Real Estate
The Summer Market did not begin in late June, as usual…it took until July 15 to kick in. A six weeks later scenario for both real estate and for the farming community was in evidence this 2017 year.
During late July and early August, there were further pauses in visitor arrivals and in real estate viewings…due to the significant smoke from Interior and Washington State forest fires that affected many coastal regions.
On Salt Spring, there may have been a further hesitation in August, as people awaited the outcome of the September 9 referendum on incorporation.
Underneath this fits and starts rhythm, sales slowly continued, especially in that entry level residential category, and inventory thinned out dramatically. Undeveloped land, water access only island properties, upper tier priced residential estate style holdings, and commercial options remained quiet.
Very low inventory, coupled with renewed buyer interest in the secondary home/discretionary regions, usually precedes a serious uptick in prices. There have been sales at list price, and also many back-up offer situations, and even small bidding wars, mostly in that entry level priced residential segment, particularly in the latter half of 2017.
Projections
Projections for 2018 are for continuing low inventory and subsequent strengthening of prices.
It’s still the case, though, that one has to first discover the beauties of Salt Spring Island and the Gulf Islands…to then choose “for” a particular island…and then to seriously look at available properties. It often takes two (if not three) visits before a sale takes place. When a property sells quickly, it often means that a buyer has already visited the island and has made that key decision to buy there.
Seasonality seems to have been erased, and perhaps that’s another feature of the Internet. Property seekers now turn up year-round. If one is interested in selling, it’s important to be displayed and then to await the buyer arrival. In the main, our buyers are not local. Apparently, property seekers are on the Internet doing their searches for about two years before they will act. Patience is definitely a part of all sales transactions, for a seller, in any discretionary marketplace.
The Real Estate Services Act in B.C. will be significantly changed by March 15, 2018. Ask me about this. The cancellation of Limited Dual Agency (in place since 1995) is only one such change. These many changes are coming into place as a result of one realty company’s “shadow flipping” transgression, in 2015, in Vancouver. A new Superintendent of Real Estate, and a newly structured Real Estate Council, will be implementing the changes. Be informed.
There is always opportunity in real estate, no matter the market trend in play at any given time. Creative responses to lower inventory can be helpful to a buyer seeking that special property. Find out what will work for you.
