Realtors expect stable market in 2012
The President of the Victoria Real Estate Board says the H-S-T is not having as much impact on the housing market as many people in the construction industry seem to think it is.
Carol Crabb admitted builders may disagree…but she told the local Homebuilders Association annual crystal ball meeting that the number of new home sales as a proportion of total home sales actually increased last year, by 1 1/2 percentage points….
“It could be because some of you started to wrap the H-S-T into your prices, so that extra little glitch of H-S-T didn’t have as much impact. A lot of the buyers were looking at the total package, and went ahead. So the total price is what can impact the decision
Crabb says the number of first-time home buyers was down last year, to 20 per cent, from 24 per cent in 2010…and suggests that’s likely because “the bank of Mom and Dad” is drying up.
As for 2012…she predicts stability. Even though there’s no reason to expect the demand side to increase, Crabb says the supply is down…total listings on the Greater Victoria MLS system are down from a high of five thousand last summer to 3700 at the beginning of this year.
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