July 25, 2025
We are well into the Summer and the reality of the current market can not be ignored.
I am an eternal optimist – always seeing the bright light just over the horizon and small wins give me the confirmation bias that the market is picking up BUT… it’s time to face the reality.
The market has significantly slowed down with the number of sales at a 12+ year low. The Spring market just never came and to compound it, we are now in mid-summer which is historically a slower time. Couple the buyer uncertainty with the higher interest rates and we see stagnation in the sales volume. Hopefully the interest rate drop on Wednesday will spur the market on.
Yes, there are still sales and we will continue to see sales in your price range and in your area so we need to take a deep dive on what is selling and what is not selling. I also want to caution you (and me) to be careful not to compare our listing to other “active” listings. Yes, these are our competition but if they are not selling, it’s like we are all sharing the same story together. We need to look at what has sold and what makes them different from us.
The higher the price of your home, the tougher the market is. In this area, anything over $1.0M has slowed way down and over $1.5M has very low sales numbers. If I was to summarize the values now compared the top of the market – anything under $1,000,000 has dropped $100,000 – $150,000 and anything over $1.5M has dropped at least $200,000. BC Assessment numbers are so far out of whack that they provide no baseline to work with. We see sales both way above and way below assessment.
The larger centers experience the highs and lows before we do. I was speaking to a successful Realtor in Vancouver and she said that if you purchased 2-4 years ago, you are probably $500,000 underwater. I don’t expect that kind of adjustment here but it paints a picture.
We have to take replacement value out of the picture as it is not relevant (it may be good for marketing but not for generating a sale price). We have to take “I could have sold this for $x in 2022″ out of the equation – it’s not relevant today. We have to take ” I’m into it for $x” out of the calculation as buyers don’t care. These are all important to cover and cover in depth, but the market place speaks loudly and value is in the eye of the beholder.
But there are exceptions. Clean, totally dialed in, ready to move into homes in all price ranges get offers. We are still seeing multiple offers on unique offerings and we are getting regular calls and inquiries on almost all our listings. Lot sales are down, but not gone. Well priced properties of all sizes are still selling – often to buyers that are purchasing now to build in the future.
If you want to discuss your property and your situation in more detail, don’t hesitate to reach out and we can book a time.
