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I did a search for condos in the VREB area of the MLS (2008/02/23). Today there were 1024 condos for sale!

Only 291 were listed below the January 2008 median price ($305,000), while 733 were more expensive. So only 28% of condos are currently listed below the most recent median price, while 72% are listed higher.

By the way, there were also 265 townhouses, and 880 single family homes
listed for sale as of February 23, 2008. Again, most are priced above the recent
median prices.

Only 272 single family homes were listed below the January 2008 median price
($530,000), while 608 were more expensive. So only around 31% of the single family homes currently listed were priced below the recent median price, while 69% were asking more.

Put another way, around half the recent house purchases were concentrated in the bottom 31% of the single family housing inventory.

67 townhouses were listed below the January 2008 median
price
($393,000), while 198 were more expensive. So around 25% of the townhouses currently listed were priced below the most recent
median price, while 75% were priced higher.

As a potential indicator of the number of amateur landlords, the number of listings available at Craigslist continues to grow. Today, there are 99 condo listings. Mind you, by the time you click that link, the number could go up or down a lot. My guess is up - the number of search results has risen steadily for the last month - a sign more and more people, er, flippers, are listing their "investment properties", perhaps?

With this story you can see my usual inventory overview snapshot graph, which shows how many properties are available in
various price ranges, in the Victoria Real Estate Board
area.
The graph shows the inventory available in a search of the local MLS
on February 23, 2008.

Compared to the last search a few weeks ago, inventory is up in every price range.

Based on the sales numbers for "million dollar plus" properties from
January 2008 (19 of all types sold), there is around a year of "million dollar plus" inventory now on the market. Inventory
of expensive properties remains high. Will some of these sellers wait
up to a year for a deal, or will they begin cutting prices to get the jump on their competitors? Hmmm.

There seems to be some kind of serious disconnect occurring when cheaper junkier housing sells fast, yet up the price a few hundred thousand dollars and inventory is ballooning.

Maybe there are not that many buyers for expensive houses anymore, but the sellers, who all feel they are "richer than you think", have not figured out yet that they might not be able to sell for those magical numbers.

In the long run, lower
prices are the best thing that could happen to this over-ripe market.
Here's a link to the last snapshot, in case you wanted to make a comparison.

Comments are welcome.