2015 Bowen Island/Gulf Islands Sales Stats

[Skook]

June – July 2015 BI Sales Stats

Bowen Island detached home sales dropped in June and July compared to earlier months likely due to summer vacations kicking in. July sales were on par with July 2014 at 5; however, it looks like 2015 sales occurred in lower price ranges (median $534,000) compared to the month before ($838,000) and to July last year ($771,500). Total active listings took a jump in July rising to 57 – the highest level yet this year; but, this year’s listings are well below last year’s.

I get my data from MacDonald Realty’s monthly ‘Market Hot Sheets.’ I included a chart in my last stats post that showed a discrepancy between MacDonald’s stated 2014 monthly sales and the year-end figures released by BI Realtor® Dee Elliot (a MacDonald Realty agent). I’ve included that table again on the right below. Both show year-to-date (Jan-Jul) subtotals of 32; but, except for May, there’s no agreement month-to-month which is really strange.

I’ve included two new tables this month showing the historical detached sales for June and July from 2004-2015 based on the data I’ve managed to collect with past searches. Those tables are along the bottom of the image. As you will note, historically July sales tend to be slow.

The Bowen Island Benchmark Price flatlined in July dropping $400 compared to June. This likely reflects July’s lower price range sales that I mentioned above. As the table below shows, this year’s benchmark prices are the highest since 2012 and if the trend continues for the remaining months the average result could very well exceed 2012.

July’s benchmark drop from peak price (May 2012) was -1.8% with June at -1.7%.

Out of interest, I checked the BI active listings on Aug 10 and the single detached home result is in the table on the left below. I did the same on June 12 for my last stats post and have included that table for comparison. As of Aug 12, the detached listings remain the same which brings the total BI active listings to 83 when you add in the 31 vacant lot listings.

That’s it for the BI stats. I will leave it to JimmyWW to pad out the figures with his thoughts on what is happening on the island.

Add-on: Forgot to point out something - look at the trendline in Benchmark Price chart. Yep, it's now going uphill.