Skip to content
Join our Newsletter

Greater Victoria condo market on big rebound

Tucked into the release of the 2015 property assessment notices Friday, was news the condominium market in Greater Victoria is strong and healthy. B.C.
b1-clr-0103-shoal.jpg
Shoal Point is home to the five highest-assessed condominiums in Victoria.

Tucked into the release of the 2015 property assessment notices Friday, was news the condominium market in Greater Victoria is strong and healthy.

B.C. Assessment assessor Reuben Danakody said the health of the condo market was one of the surprises in this year’s roll, which included 32,000 strata units in the capital region. “What we are seeing this year, surprisingly, is we added quite a few new condo projects to the assessment roll,” Danakody said. “There are new things being built and on the sales side the absorption rate has been very good.”

Danakody said that’s in stark contrast to the post-recession market, where demand for condos resulted in reduced assessment prices. “There’s confidence now in developers to come back to the market,” he said. “And if they are priced well, they are moving.”

The strength in the condo market may be reflected in the fact the top-assessed residential properties in both Esquimalt and Victoria are condos.

A unit at Swallow’s Landing, 900-847 Dunsmuir Rd. in Esquimalt, is that municipality’s top assessed property at $2.32 million. The highest assessed single-family home in Esquimalt is 941 Lyall St. at $2.27 million. In Victoria, the most highly assessed property is $4.1 million at Shoal Point, 21 Dallas Rd. The highest assessed single family home in Victoria is 1843 Crescent Rd. at $2.61 million.

“I think the condo market is the strongest it’s been in years, probably since 2007-08, but it’s much healthier than it was then,” said Tony Zarsadias of The Condo Group. “Back then, supply was low and demand was high enough that people were competing and that drove prices up. We are not in that market anymore, but condos are getting absorbed despite the ongoing building boom.”

Zarsadias said construction timing has been staggered so the market has not been flooded with units and prices have remained strong but stable.

“The market value reflects what people can and want to pay,” he said.

Nicole Burgess, real estate agent at Pemberton Holmes, said there’s really a tale of two condo markets. “It’s an interesting market because on average we are oversupplied with condos,” she said. “But what’s fascinating is the amount of new construction going on in the core, and they are selling.”

She believes that’s down to new builds ticking a lot of boxes for potential buyers — good location, concrete and steel construction, underground parking and well-operated and maintained.

Burgess said there aren’t many buildings that satisfy all of those criteria. “That’s why some of the new ones are going so well,” she said.

Over the course of 2014, things were certainly going well as there were 1,626 sales of condos in Greater Victoria, up from 1,443 in 2013, according to year-end figures from the Victoria Real Estate Board.

Zarsadias expects to see that kind of activity continue and to see prices start to climb. “That market will be strong over the next two years,” he said, noting prices could increase between two and five per cent in the next two years. “That’s healthy, in line with inflation essentially.”

The same could hold true for the rest of the residential market in 2015, said board president Guy Crozier. “There are two indicators to track in the new year — the number of sales and the amount of inventory currently available on the market. In 2014, we saw less inventory than in previous years, but more sales. With job growth predicted and consumer confidence increasing in our area, it will be interesting to watch these numbers as 2015 sales unfold,”

Last year, there were 6,698 total sales, up from 5,998 in 2013. There were 3,721 sales of single-family homes, up from 3,279.

aduffy@timescolonist.com