By Dan Marshall

Nanaimo real estate sales and prices continued to climb in 2016

Jan 6, 2017 | 8:53 AM

NANAIMO — A lack of inventory drove central island housing prices up in 2016, according to the Vancouver Island Real Estate Board (VIREB).

The average sale price in Nanaimo last year was $447,336. That number was $482,475 in Parksville/Qualicum.

Prices rose about 14 per cent from 2015 levels in the harbour city, but Janice Stromar with the VIREB says the increase in prices may slow down this year.

“Inventory is lower than normal. Every month we say we’re at a historical low and then it gets lower,” said Stromar. “We are at definitely a historical low right now. But I do see talking to different realtors that everyone has some listings in the pipeline. So I think we’ll start to see it pick-up again towards the end of January, beginning of February.”

December unit sales were down three per cent in Nanaimo and 33 per cent in Parksville/Qualicum, in what is typically the slowest month for sales in the VIREB region.

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Seventy-one homes changed hands last month in Nanaimo and 24 in Oceanside.

According to Stromar, there were 250 active Nanaimo listings at the end of Dec. 2015, and just 190 on Dec. 31 of 2016.

She says the high demand and low inventory stood out as the major real estate trend of last year, but to accurately predict what 2017 will look like on the local market is very difficult.

“I wish I had a crystal ball, I can’t tell you for sure that they’re going to trend upwards. I think if they do trend upwards it’ll be at a lesser degree than it has over the past year. We can only maintain that increase in prices for so long before we see a correction,” said Stromar.

When looking back at 2016 as a whole, unit sales rose 15 to 34 per cent in the six VIREB zones, while the average sale price went up between eight and 19 per cent.