December Stats

Here is an article in Nanaimo Daily News about Nanaimo's real estate market toward the end of 2008.

http://www.canada.com/nanaimodailynews/news/story.html?id=be718129-ebc3-4196-a732-bc7a88b6c399

Housing sales fell by almost 50% last month in Nanaimo, and real estate prices appear to be edging down as a result.
The Vancouver Island Real Estate Board's December sales figures show 43 units sold, compared to 83 in the same month for 2007.

The prices already are edging down due to slow sales. The List Price/Sale Price ratio for houses was 91% in December. This means that the average house sold for 9% off of the listed price (It may even have been listed for higher previously), meaning that a 400k listed house would have sold for 364k. Surely there are people out there who are smart enough to forward offers of 15% off list price.

Sales figures alone don't tell the whole picture. There were 512 active house listings and only 43 sold. This means only 1 out of 12 houses sold so any one house has about 8% chance of selling. Only 17 out of 341 Condo/Townhouse listings sold. That is about 1 out of 20 with a 5% chance of selling.

Realtors are watching Nanaimo's real estate inventory grow, and a resulting affect on selling prices.
"We're seeing prices change but likely that house that didn't sell for $600,000 last year was probably overpriced," said Nanaimo realtor Jim Stewart.
Buyers and sellers are witnessing market forces at work. As the number of homes for sale rises, it sways market conditions in favour of home buyers, pushing prices down.

The very few houses that are actually selling are selling at a discount. Many sellers still have too high of expectations and won't lower their asking prices or price below competition to get it sold. They are chasing the market down. If the current conditions continue, there will be massive supply come spring, forcing sellers to cut prices even more. How about a strategy of monthly price reductions instead of waiting 2 or 3 months?

Stats available here: http://www.relocationbc.com/stats/08Dec/NanaimoDec08Graphstats.pdf