Sunshine Coast Real Estate Market Update - January 2022

Early 2020 started like every other year until the announcement of COVID-19 and the first nationwide shutdown. Most assumed it was temporary, and the population held in place for the first three months of the pandemic, assuming life would return to normal. Fast forward to September 2020, and it was clear it wasn't going away anytime soon. Most had transitioned to working from home and realized this was the 'new normal' - an evaluation of how we wanted to live. People started leaving the city and moving to smaller communities like the Sunshine Coast, and by fall, buyers actively house hunting saw the competition beginning to heat up. 

By the end of 2020, a detached house in Sechelt was 642,000 dollars (19% increase from 2019) and in Gibsons, 774,000 dollars (23% increase from 2019). These price increases were brought on by consumer demand and a decline in homes for sale. Throughout 2021 we have watched trends continue; however, in early 2021, buyers quickly realize that if they want to get into the Sunshine Coast housing market, they need to move fast. This urgency to buy, combined with the continuing decrease in inventory, brought on the now commonplace multiple-offer scenario. We have seen many homes sell for hundreds of thousands over list price, and having six or seven offers on a single property is not uncommon.

We finished off 2021 with a home in Sechelt costing $823,000 (28% increase from 2020) and that same home in Gibsons costing you $956,000 (23% increase from 2020). Inventory is so low that competing should be assumed. Sechelt currently has 31 houses for sale and Gibsons a mere 14! The Sunshine Coast total for today is 75. To put this into perspective, in December of 2019, the Sunshine Coast had 265 homes for sale, and the price of a home was $525,000 - $625,000.

What is the takeaway from this? Buyers, plan, prepare and wait. Trust your agent, and be ready; you won't have time to hesitate when the right house comes on the market. Sellers, plan where you are going and trust your agent to guide you through the process. Having a plan is the best way to succeed.

www.tarasullivan.ca

Stats provided by Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver, detached (single-family) homes.