It's confirmed. The BC Real Estate Association says 2016 was a record year for home sales in British Columbia -- up 9.5% overall from 2015.
The biggest change was in Chilliwack, up 37%. But Victoria was second with home sales up 27.5%. That was followed by Vancouver Island at 26.6%.
Cameron Muir, the BC Real States Board's Chief Economist, says Victoria had a phenomenal year, with the peak back in April. He says what's interesting about Victoria right now is the extremely low inventory:
"My time series goes back to the late 1990's, and there's never been less than 1,000 units for sale in the market place in Victoria. And there was less than 1,000 units last month."
Muir says that amounts to about a 2 month supply of homes on the market:
"We use a sales-to-active-listings ratio to measure king of market hotness. Really, it's showing about a 2 month supply of market homes in the market place. Whereas a balance market should have betweeen 5 and 8 month supply of homes.
The average price provincially climbed 8.6% to just over $691,100. Victoria's average price climbed 12.3% to just under $585,750.
Muir says while prices are starting to normalize in many areas, the lack of inventory suggests prices will continue on an upward trend for sometime to come in Victoria.