Victoria Market Overview - Sales activity was up in March from February but not as much as might have been expected from what is normally our busiest month. So far in April sales seem to be keeping a pretty good pace with March so possibly some of that activity is the result of a late or prolonged spring market. Inventory has only increased marginally in the last few months and is not quite hitting the spring flood some had been hoping for to bring us back more securely into something like a balanced market. It is good news that our inventory increased at all considering provincially inventory has fallen for 2 consecutive months.Part of this stalemate of relatively stable sales and listing activity is the lack of change in interest rates with the Bank of Canada holding rates again in their April 12th announcement, the second hold in a row after a very aggressive rate policy.Getting into the Numbers - The total sales in March on the Victoria Real Estate Board multiple listing service was 590 sales which was 28.3% more than in February but 29.2% less than the sales in March 2022 when the market was much hotter. Single-family homes made up 281 of those sales, down 31.8% from last year and condos made up 197 of those sales which were 31.8% down from last year. Judging from the low of January’s 277 sales, there is certainly an indication of a return in demand from buyers. The good news for our clients and our Group is that while the rest of VREB was down 29.2% in sales year over year, we wrote 30.7% more contracts than in the same period last year, meaning more wins for our clients.For listings, the end of March saw 1,970 units on the MLS which was an 8.9% increase from February but in a time we would expect a bigger rise due to the seasonality of real estate. The 1,970 Listing in March is a pretty staggering increase from the low-lows of just 12 months previous when inventory was sitting at 1,063 units.Considering Price - Months of inventory (MOI) came in for March at 3.52 which is just at the low side of a buyers market getting closer to a seller's market. This would seem to indicate, and we have seen in some neighborhoods, that there is some upward pressure on prices. That being said, buyers are limited on their affordability so there is a wide range of negotiation, and selection for buyers, and more urgent sellers lowing their prices to get a quick sale. On sellers lowering their prices to sell quickly by generating multiple offers, those sellers are still getting multiple offers often selling over asking price. It just isn’t in the magnitudes of early 2022 and before. They are seeing 3 parties at the table instead of 14 and buyers still have the possibility to win with conditions on their offers. Also worth noting, as the island sometimes takes a little while to catch up, is that provincially house prices on average have risen for two consecutive months.Looking Forward - We said in a previous market update that “nothing will change if nothing changes” and specifically referenced legislative and interest rate changes. Well the BC government announced their new “Homes for People” plan which promised to "speed up delivery of new homes, increase the supply of middle-income housing, fight speculation and help those who need it the most." The plan includes 4 billion over 3 years and a promise of 12 billion to follow over the next 10 years. The plan will focus on eliminating restrictions and making it easier to build while also thousands of social housing units. For those interested in a deeper dive there is more info here: https://news.gov.bc.ca/files/Homes_For_People.pdfAs for interest rates, everyone is holding their breath and watching the inflation numbers with the next announcement scheduled for June 7th. No one not even the economists are claiming any certainty about inflation although they are forecasting (with heavy disclaimers) for inflation to fall to 3% by mid-year and go back to the 2% target by the end of 2024.Neal Estate Group Highlights - The Group recently had its 24th Annual Easter Egg Hunt which was fantastic with over 30,000 easter eggs, face painting, a coloring contest, bubble blowing, cupcake decoration, hot dogs, Sunny bear, and of course, the Easter Bunny. On top of all that fun, we also were able to raise $4,700 for BC Childrens Hospital. We are grateful for all the volunteers who helped out and everyone else who came. We are already looking forward to the 25th!

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