More mainland people picking through Vancouver Island real estate
Posted February 3, 2016 12:34 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VICTORIA (NEWS 1130) – More people are leaving the Lower Mainland in search of cheaper real estate on Vancouver Island, especially retirees and young couples.
Mike Nugent with the Victoria Real Estate Board says sales from people abandoning the Vancouver area nearly doubled in 2015 to about 7 per cent.
It’s not a huge number, but he says a trend may be emerging:
“Certainly I think all the realtors here were bumping into people from the mainland and even from Calgary and Ontario and they’re saying yea, financially this makes a lot of sense, but also it’s such a beautiful market to be coming to.”
Nugent says the average price for a single-family home in the Greater Victoria area last month was about $600,000.
He says there isn’t as high of a demand from foreigners to buy property there — so he doesn’t think prices will spike the way they have on the Mainland.
