Here we sit, heading towards the final third of our seasonal year.
For some markets, it's a quarterly report, but our secondary home/discretionary and resort-based market has always seemed to split into three natural parts.
Spring: Early February to end of May.
Summer: June to end of September.
Off Season: October to January.
This thin "rim" on the Pacific Northwest Coast does not experience the cold winters seen in the rest of Canada -- our microclimate (known as "cool Mediterranean", on Salt Spring Island and on the Southern Gulf Islands), means that our "off season" can still experience buoyancy in sales.
The flat market conditions in secondary home/discretionary markets, globally (included Salt Spring and Southern Gulf Islands), began in 2006, though it was not well understood, perhaps.
The economic meltdowns of Fall 2008 afflicted all regions, again globally, and in 2009/early 2010, it was entry level residential properties that achieved some sales success.
A sustained uptick was seen in primary residence/city marketplaces, but this activity did not carry over to the "rural" areas of B.C. (this would include all of Vancouver Island, outside of Victoria, all the Gulf Islands, the Sunshine Coast, and B.C. Interior communities).
A purchase of a second home, or any discretionary buy, can be put on hold until conditions improve. No one "has to" buy on Salt Spring Island, for example -- it's all by choice.
To try to jumpstart activity, some realtors/companies have tried severe price reductions -- this did not result in anymore viewings or in any sales. Local market manipulation is a real thing, however. Such reductions make all sellers have to follow suit, in order to remain competitive in pricing.
Buyers create markets, not sellers or realtors. At the moment, the argument between deflation and inflation seems to be evenly weighted, which extends the buyers insecurity about moving forward with a purchase, in our kind of secondary home marketplace.
Appraisers say that prices have reduced between late 2007 and now by around 25 to 30 percent, in our area (down from a 60% increase between 2002 and 2005).
The buyer has questions: Now? Wait? The result of this conflict is continuing inaction.
When buyers who might have been leaning towards making an offer, though, see wild price drops on the mls, it makes them back up and decide to wait another few months, in case they can pick a property up even cheaper.
The downside of local market manipulation, when a realtor stresses that one should drop an enormous amount, rather than a buyer offering such a drop, "cleanly", is further hesitation.
More information? Give me a call!
How may I help you to buy your special Salt Spring Island or Southern Gulf Island property?
Liread33@gmail.com
How may I help you to discover special Salt Spring Island & the Southern Gulf Islands? Call me!
