2014 Sunshine Coast Monthly Sales Stats

[Skook]

April 2014 Sales Stats:

I have pulled the April Sales data together and, hopefully, there aren’t many glaring errors. As I mentioned in ‘A Message from Skook,’ not all cylinders are firing upstairs or they’re intermittent at best…LOL. So, here’s my best shot at making sense of these numbers.

When I look at the active listings and sales data for the last few months, it’s almost as if everything is happening a month or two earlier than what would normally be the case (see the ‘Total Sales by Month’ table below). You might want to keep this in the back of your mind when looking at April’s sales (May is going to show the same pattern, too). The big question is whether or not this sales upswing will be sustained over the summer months.

Total April sales (all types) increased for the second month in a row and detached sales saw a nice bounce; however, both figures still failed to reach April 2012 sales levels.

Sechelt edged out Gibsons’ residential sales (all types) in April: 26 vs 23; however, Gibsons did manage a few extra single detached home sales: 20 vs 18 (I’m excluding MOPs). Year-To-Date Total Sales shows Sechelt and Gibsons bettering 2013 by almost the same percentage; there is no growth once again in Pender Harbour; and, Roberts Creek seems to have lost its lustre with YTD sales now down -64% compared to last year.

Single Detached Home Sales:

The last few months I have been including the table ‘SDH Sales 2001-2014’ for interest sake and to determine if there is any momentum towards significant change in sales. I pointed out that this historical data comes from the REBGV Monthly Stats package and that the REBGV includes ‘Manufactured on Pad’ (MOPS) in the detached home sales data.

I also pointed out that I turn to SC Realtor Gary Little’s monthly sales stats data since he breaks down the data into the five SC market areas. However, I pointed out that he handles detached sales differently by separating MOP sales which leads to a discrepancy between his numbers and REBGV numbers. I mentioned that I would try to correct to this and have taken the first step this month in the ‘April SDH Sales YOY’ table on the left above. I am now showing both the detached and MOP sale in the same box (e.g. Gibsons: 20+1). As a result, the detached sales total for April 2014 now matches the REBGV detached sales total. However, I still have not corrected the ‘SDH Sales YTD - YOY’ table and these totals continue to be based solely on Little’s separated data.

Does any of this make sense? LOL. Yep, Skook is sounding like a stoner; so, moving right along, happy as can be…

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Next up, the REBGV’s Sunshine Coast detached home sales by price range (property sales under $1 million). Remember, these are coast-wide sales and, in April, the homes moving were priced under $400,000. On the right side of the pie chart below, I’ve added a ‘YTD % Total’ table and detached sales from $200,000 - $399,999 accounted for 57.6% of 2014 sales.

There was a nice jump in sales under $100,000 this month, too, with five this month. Falling MOP prices means more affordable housing and there have been good looking homes available at decent prices.

The SDH Median Sales Price took a slight dip in April reflecting the make-up of the month’s ‘Sales By Price Range’ data above.
Except for January, the monthly median prices have been lower than 2013 which again is a reflection of the price range sales - the homes selling are under the $400,000 mark.

While the median sales price dropped in April, the SDH Benchmark Price rose - for the second month. The explanation for the rise is the fact that the REBGV includes the sale of detached homes value at $1million plus in its calculations and there were two such sales in March and one in April. The calculation for the median price removes the very highest and very lowest sales which explains why we say a rise in the median price in March followed by a dip in April.

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The single detached 'Sales-to-List Ratio' saw a nice jump in April reflecting an increase in sales relative to the number of new listings for the month. However, overall the year-to-date ratio shows the Sunshine Coast remains entrenched in a “buyer’s” market - a fact reflected in the continuing high volume of downward price drops as sellers’ hope to become one of the few “lucky” ones to find a buyer.

To conclude, here are the REBGV April sales chart for the Sunshine Coast.