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Let's look at the latest numbers courtesy of VREB. Here are the comparable sales numbers for the months of April 2006/2007. VREB includes the sales of out of area properties in the Board numbers. I prefer to take them out of the equation to get a better idea of what is happening in Greater Victoria itself.

Sales are now moving at a brisker pace than last year, though sales of single family homes have not increased as much as the other segments, and despite higher prices, the increases are not on pace with the gains of condos and townhomes. Still, year over year, increases can be seen in all segments of the market.

There was an increase of around 10% in the price of single family homes, versus an increase of almost 30% in the average price of a condominium. Townhouses trended slightly higher than single family homes, around 12% year over year. Sales volume of all three types of units was higher than a year ago.

Compared to last month, prices are up around 5% for single family homes, 3.5% for condos and 4.5% for townhouses.

What does this mean? Well, I could speculate that people are selling single family homes and buying condominiums.... I could also speculate that with more inventory, people are buying nice or new homes, while other homes sit on the market. I could speculate that new construction is skewing prices and slowing the market for resale property - which shows up in the increasing inventory. I could also speculate that the price of single family homes is now starting to cap the potential for future price appreciation compared to the other segments.

VREB lists around 3300 properties on the market as of April 2007, while 2600 were listed in April 2006 and around 2100 or so were listed in April of 2005. It would seem these days many people are listing their properties without success, despite the continued high prices, or perhaps because of them.

Stay tuned for the May VREB numbers as we see how this season unfolds.