As a real estate market that is largely driven by discretionary decisions, the supply and demand factors that drive sales in Whistler differ from most urban markets and, as such, the resort market continues to follow its own direction as compared to other surrounding marketplaces. After several years demonstrating strong Sellers’ Market conditions, the local market is currently trending towards a much more balanced market environment. However, sub-categories within the market do vary dramatically and multiple offers on well-priced and well-located properties are still not unusual.
As compared the last quarter of 2018, the first 3 months of 2019 remained fairly consistent, albeit well below the levels achieved at the height of the market is late 2017 and early 2018. As is the case in much of the province, the overall number of sales transactions in the first quarter of 2019 trended down (by about 45%) as compared to the same period in 2018. Despite this slowing of sales, the overall value of sales increased by about 10% since the end of December (to $165 Million). Hand-in-hand with this, average transaction values have also increased by a similar percentage and now sit at $1,312,000.
Through the first three months of the year, the strongest market segments have been the condo and single-family home markets which both exceeded the activity levels achieved in the final quarter of 2018 and experienced increases in average sales values by 2% and 9% respectively over those reported at the end of 2018.
Activity in the townhome segement of the market was noticeably slower through the first quarter; however, this was primarily due to the limited number of properties being offered for sale rather than to a decrease in buyer interest. As a result, average sales values for this market segment remained largely unchanged from the previous quarter or the same period one year ago.
In terms of listings, we are seeing that the total number of properties available for sale continues to grow but still remains below historically normal levels. Meanwhile, the number of days listings spend on the market currently sits at between 60 to 70 days for a typical listing.This demonstrates that buyers continue to be active in the local marketplace.
The real estate market in Whistler is a highly unique and nuanced market. If you have been thinking of buying or selling, or if you just want to stay up-to-date, don’t hesitate to contact me to discuss your specific area(s) of interest and how the current conditions may impact you.
This information is deemed to be accurate and is taken from the Whistler Listing System, April 2019