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Just an observation, but last month in the VREB area, there were 16 sales valued over $1,000,000.00. Some for a lot more, I'm sure.

Anyway, today as I check the MLS for Greater Victoria, I note that there are 209 properties listed at a million dollars and up. Of these, 158 are listed as detached single family dwellings.

So, while every month we get another announcement of a new high in Victoria area single family home prices, at the same time, by my rudimentary calculations, there are now more than 9-13 months of high priced inventory on the market.

There are anecdotal reports on other Victoria real estate blogs that high priced properties are just sitting, or that when they sell, they are doing so with price reductions, sometimes amounting to hundreds of thousands of dollars -- well this should come as no surprise.

In my own area of town, there is a bed and breakfast that has been for sale more than a year and a half. The price has dropped several hundred thousand dollars, based on the MLS listings I have seen during that time, and the owners have now resorted to planting a for sale sign outside their business, not normally done when you might have guest arriving to stay, I would think. Is this desperation, frustration or solid sales technique? Is this a booming market?

Meanwhile, more overpriced and undersized condos are for sale all over town than ever before.

Curiously, in the lower price points, the outstanding supply would seem to only amounts to a few months of supply. As of today, there are only 186 single family homes valued at less than $500,000.00 for sale in Greater Victoria. Since the median last month was $510,000.00 and the total single family dwellings sold last month was 310, we can draw up an approximate picture of the market.

Approximate stats extrapolated from VREB stats for November 2007, based on sales price:

$510 thousand or less = 155 sales

$510 thousand to $1 million = 139 sales

Over $1 million = 16 sales

So maybe this illustrates a simple fact: if your house is priced over $1 million, good luck selling this or next year!