Market Update - February 2021

The busy Sunshine Coast real estate market continued last month with multiple offers commonplace, especially in the $700k-$900k range.

Demand is far beyond inventory as retirees find themselves competing with young families that want to live an idyllic life on BC's Sunshine Coast.

I've been frequently called this month by disappointed buyers trying to do it alone (ie - trying to buy without the help of a local Sunshine Coast-based Realtor). These buyers soon discover that the properties they had on their shopping list are already under offer or sold within hours of being posted on public sites.

It's a common misconception that buyers will save money off by not hiring a local buyers agent to help them with their search. This is not the case and, in fact, the opposite is true. Buyers working with a Realtor with local knowledge that relates to the area in which they're looking to buy pay, on average, significantly less than those trying to do it themselves. Remember that the “transaction” pays the buyers' agent and NOT the buyer.

JANUARY YEAR-OVER-YEAR (YOY)

Here are how the numbers broke down in detail for January:

• January 2020 saw 47 total sales – 24 of them were single-family detached, and the average price of those homes was 649,000. The average time on market was 103 days, and the total dollar volume of sales was $30,220,000.
• January 2021 had 82 total sales – 46 of them were single-family detached houses with the average price of those homes being $879,000. The average time on market has been 45 days, and the total dollar volume of sales was $54,895,000.

CURRENT DETACHED HOME INVENTORY LEVEL(S)

• Gibsons – 28 homes for sale. 14 of them under 1M (7 of those 14 already under offer)
• Roberts Creek – 3 homes for sale. 1 under 1M
• Sechelt – 40 homes for sale. 27 under 1M
• Halfmoon Bay – 6 homes for sale. 1 under 1M
• Pender Harbour – 8 homes for sale. 4 under 1M
• TOTAL INVENTORY – 85 detached homes listed, 64 under 1M and a large percentage of those are already under offer.

The numbers speak for themselves. If you are planning on selling in the spring, consider listing early and getting your property on the market to take advantage of these extremely low inventory levels and unprecedented buyer demand.