Nanaimo Real Estate Market as at January 31, 2020

The sales stats at the end of January 2020 indicate the Nanaimo real estate market is still a balanced market as it was in January 2019.  The biggest changes year-to-date seem to be that at the end of January 2020 there were 12% fewer homes listed as compared to those listed in January 2019 and the number of homes sold were down by 22%.

The single-family home market experienced an upward trend in prices of 11% in January as compared to Jan. 2019 and overall for the 12 months to date, we are up by 2%.  

Number of units listed in January were down in single family homes & condos but were up in townhomes, patio homes and lots.  Number of units sold were down in all property types except for Lots.

 
Based on the stats that VIREB (Vancouver Island Real Estate Board) have supplied, I am able to summarize the market as follows:

Below are the types of real estate sold in January 2020 (source VIREB) in Nanaimo:

Property Type    # of sold unit’s        Average price

Single Family            43                         $603,720

Condo (Apt)              22                        $295,786                                      

Condo (Patio)           4                           $523,601

Condo (Townhouse)    8                      $382,488

Lots                               8                          $258,500

The single-family home market in January 2020 was off a little from January 2019.  The number of unit sales were down by 22% and houses were taking 7% more days to sell.

The Sell/List ratio is the percentage of houses that were listed that sold.  In January 2020 the Sell/List ratio was 41% which was higher than the January 2019 ratio of 37%. 

Sales of apartment style condos were down by 8% from January 2019 and were taking 23% more days to sell than in January 2019. In January 2020 the average sales price was 9% lower than in January 2019.

Sales of townhouse units were down by 20% from January 2019. They were taking 77% fewer days to sell, and the average sale price was 30% higher in January 2020 than in January 2019.

The sales of patio homes were down by 33% in January 2020 as compared to January 2019. The average sale price for patio homes was up by 29% in January 2020 as compared to January 2019.

Overall the market in January 2020 was steady albeit a bit slower in the length of time it was taking to turn inventory than it was in January 2019. Even though unit sales were down the Year-to-date prices are still up in all property types except for patio homes and lots.

Absorption Rates for single family homes in January 2020 as compared to January 2019

The above stats are informative but to get a true picture of how the local market is doing we need to calculate absorption rates.  The definition of absorption rates is the number of weeks it takes to sell the current real estate inventory in Nanaimo at the present rate of sales.

Below you will find a comparison between absorption rates this year versus last year.

The absorption rate for single family homes in Nanaimo as at January 31, 2020 compared to January 31, 2018

January 31, 2020 – 21.67 weeks to sell the inventory that was currently on hand at the end of January.

January 31, 2019 – 20.96 weeks to sell the inventory that was currently on hand at the end of January.

As a rule of thumb a Sellers market has less than 3 months of inventory, a Balanced market has between 3-6 months of inventory and a Buyer’s market has over 6 months.

Current absorption rates indicate that we are still in a balanced market as we were in January 2019.

A Balanced market is just that; a market where there are a similar number of buyer’s looking to buy real estate as there are sellers hoping to sell. 

For additional information on the Nanaimo real estate market please give me a call.