2015 Bowen Island/Gulf Islands Sales Stats

[Skook]

September – October 2015 BI Sales Stats

I’m constantly playing catch-up with these 2015 sales stats...ah, so much to do and so little time and energy. Oh well, maybe by the end of the year.

September detached sales came in at 10: up 2 versus July and up 1 sale year-over-year according to Macdonald Realty. The median sales price dipped compared to August but rose +31% year-over-year. The ‘Days on Market’ figure rose indicating that languishing listings are starting to move which makes sense as inventory continues to drop: down -23% from the month before and -51% year-over-year. The inventory figure for September is questionable; if we follow the pattern it should read 44 which would change the ‘Supply’ to 4 months.

October’s 2 sales is a substantial drop compared to September and is even 2 less on a year-over-year basis. Perhaps, this is a reflection of lower inventory – what’s left holds little appeal to the current buyers (or investors?). Given the sales figure, the median sales price is worthless which is why it is highlighted. These stats come from Macdonald Realty’s monthly 'Market Hot Sheet' and they had that median price flagged with an asterisk. I have placed their comment below the table. Active listings are holding more or less steady reflecting the lack of sales and using October's pace the ‘Supply’ has jumped to 17 months.

A few posts back, I began including the chart on the right directly above. Bowen Island Realtor® Dee Elliot released a 2014 sales summary back on January 21st 2015 on her Facebook page. Her monthly chart totals are on the right in the table. This year, Macdonald Realty began releasing ‘Market Hot Sheets’ for all market areas of the REBGV and every month 2015 sales are compared with 2014 sales. So, the left column in the table above is MR’s 2014 Bowen Island monthly sales. What makes this comparison interesting is that Dee Elliot is a Macdonald Realty Realtor®. The only thing I can think of to explain this difference is that Elliot is showing sales only when they close. You will notice that the column subtotals are now out of whack. Will the year-end totals match? Will Dee Elliot and her Realty firm agree? We'll just have to wait and see. There, look how totally awesome and exciting real estate can be...(did you hear someone snort?)

The BI Benchmark Price continues its upward trend albeit at a much slower pace in October which should be expected given there were only 2 sales. Visually, the Benchmark Price chart can’t fail to impress – I love adding those trendlines. The August Benchmark was +0.7% above the May 2012 peak; September rose +2.7% above; and, October hit +3.1% above.

I put together a few tables showing active listings. I had hoped to post the stats above back in mid-October but got sidetracked but I figured I might as well throw in the Oct 16th table to compare with the table I prepared yesterday. It should be noted that these are MLS listed properties only. The number of Realtor® “exclusive” properties remain a mystery.

Anyone who has followed my stats posting for Bowen Island and the Sunshine Coast knows that since the beginning (2013) I have taken advantage of SC Realtor® Gary Little’s interactive real estate map. Well, Little has been dicking with that map for the last few months and I think it’s broken. Like so many websites, I think Little has had to “dumb-it-down” for “smartphone” users – aw, the irony.

There might also now be a connection issue between the map and the MLS system. Back in mid-September, one local Realtor® mentioned “significant changes in the MLS system...as we transition to a new, more modern software platform”. The change is reflected in the new MLS listing numbers which moved from V115XXXX to R200XXXX around September 14th. I get the feeling that Little is now having to input each and every new listing into his database whereas before it occurred automatically. This could be an issue until all listing numbers move over to the “Rs”. I could be wrong on this – it’s only a guess; however, there are issues with the map now. My suggestion is to turn to Little’s Property List webpage and use the filters to get a quick overview of market area listings. Then you can turn to the map and compare.

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Hopefully, JimmyWW will pad out the numbers above with his thoughtful insights into the BI market. How goes the packing, Jimmy? (He and his family are moving to BI in January.)