Each month I record a Whistler Real Estate Market Update video. This means that in less than 99 seconds each month, you can stay informed on the market. The statistics and graphs are provided monthly by the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV). Below is the current month’s market update.
Canadian/Vancouver Real Estate Market
Looking for more information on the Canadian real estate market with a focus on British Columbia? I recommend you subscribe to the YouTube channel of Steve Saretsky. Steve is a Vancouver Realtor, Housing Analyst/Consultant, and Canadian Real Estate/Finance Blogger. Steve is widely considered a thought leader in the industry with regular appearances on Bloomberg, CBC, The Vancouver Sun, and various other media outlets. Here is the link tosubscribe to Steve’s Monday Newsletter, which is always worth a read.
Now back to more on the Whistler real estate market.
Understanding Market Sales, Inventory and Listing Statistics
The following video walks you through how to read the statistics below. By understanding the sales, inventory levels, and the number of new listings each month, you should start to understand how the market changes each month. That change is registered in the sales to active listings ratio, which determines what type of market Whistler is currently in. We can be in a seller’s market, a balanced market, or a buyer’s market. All important information if you are wondering why pricing is going up or coming down.
Whistler Market Update Statistics Summary
The statistics below are absolutely wonderful. They are broken down into three segments: 1) detached houses, 2) townhomes, and 3) condominiums. The condominium segment is the hardest to interpret as this segment included anything with a condo designation. For example, condos zoned residential, nightly rental, condo hotels, or phase 2 properties, and fractional ownership including quarter shares and timeshares.
The townhomes include half-duplex properties and also townhomes zoned for nightly rental and residential. However, the townhome segment is a lot simpler to evaluate than the condo segment, simply due to the location.
Some detached houses in Whistler have nightly rental zoning and others are residential. Therefore, like the townhome segment, it is a simpler analysis than the condo market.
Market Update by Segment
We have already established the three types of markets: 1) seller’s market; 2) balanced market; and 3) buyer’s market. Within each of those types of markets are three segments that all act independently and have an effect on the type of market. Those three segments are 1) detached houses, 2) condominiums and 3) townhomes.
Detached Houses Market Update
This must be the clearest report to interpret. In essence, the price point you have budgeted will possibly be how you use this report, in addition to the neighborhood.
Condo Market Update
The condo market update mixes in everything with a condo in the name. By that I mean: residential; zoned for nightly rental; hotel condos with restrictions (phase 2); fractional ownership of quarter share and time-share. In essence, any evaluation of a condo should be done by comparing the sales in the same development. However, it does give the breakdown by neighborhood and price range which can be useful. In addition, at a glance, you can see where there are condos for sale within Whistler, which may help adjust your expectations.
Townhome Market Update
The townhome and half-duplex report is like the detached house report, it is simple to understand if you keep in mind that the location should indicate the zoning. For example, the Benchlands and Whistler Village are zoned for nightly rentals. Whistler Creekside is too wide a category to say whether the property would have nightly zoning or not. Due to the price of townhomes, an alternative can be a detached house at the top end of the townhome market. At the other end of the townhome market, the alternative is the condo market. Especially for the Vancouver and Lower Mainland market owners who make up at least 65% of the market under $1.5M.
Home Price Index (HPI)
This is one chart that should be used for anyone trying to figure out what has happened to real estate over a long period of time. I expect there are other ways to use this, but that is the only way I use this chart. It also supports the theory that the best investment is always a detached house because each is unique. What you do is pick the two points in time you wish to evaluate. Then determine the price increase and from there you determine the percentage increase in that segment. Yes, this is only a guideline, but it is a good guideline.
The Average Price Per Square Foot chart is exciting to think about. However, it is fraught with outliers that can cancel out any rationale you may think you have established. Sorry, but you are on your own with this chart!
Whistler Property Values
These two charts show you the percentage change in Whistler real estate over specific periods. I use these charts to answer questions about how much a segment has increased in value. The apartment statistics include every type of property labeled as a condo. The single-family detached is probably the purest statistic to rely upon.
Should you have questions on this page or on these charts please call me if you are not already working with a Whistler realtor.
