TABLE 1: STATISTICAL TRENDS - ALL RESIDENTIAL (Greater Victoria and Other Areas)

QUARTER-TO-QUARTER COMPARISONS

1 Qtr 14 1 Qtr 15 Changest st

New Listings 2,833 3,236 +403 Sales 1,265 1,546 +281Avg Sale Price $488,954 $494,446 +$5,492 Median Sale Price $432,500 $455,000 +$22,500Ratio Sales-to-Listings .44 .48 +0.04Avg Days to Sell 66 63 -3Sale Price as % of Org List Price 94.9% 96.5% +1.6%Mortgages Rates (3 yr Fixed BoC) 3.75% 3.39% -0.36%

VICTORIA OFF TO BEST START SINCE 2010

REAL ESTATE IN VICTORIA...Keeping You Informed Spring 2015

“REGULATOR SLAMS AGENT...”

Earlier this year, the Globe and Mail carried an article about a complaint to the Real Estate Council of British Columbia(RECBC). The essence of the complaint was that the buyer’s agent attempted to maximize his commission by withholdinginformation from his client. The buyer’s agent presented an offer of $940,000 on a property listed at $969,000 with anincreased commission for himself that was almost double that being offered by the seller. The sellers made a counterofferof $958,000, along with a letter from the seller’s agent that stated: “[the sellers] did not accept your request for an increasedcommission and feel that we are being compensated fairly (which I have to agree).” The buyer’s agent did not present thecounteroffer to his clients. Rather, he advised the buyers to offer the full list price, again with an increased commission forhimself. The sellers accepted the full price offer with the increased commission. The sellers couldn’t understand why thebuyers would come back with an offer that was higher than their counteroffer. After the sale completed, the sellers broughttheir concerns to their lawyer and in turn to the buyer’s lawyer. When confronted, the buyer’s agent readily acceptedresponsibility. The buyers received a “satisfactory undisclosed settlement” out of court from the agent and his brokerage.

On December 15, 2014, the RECBC ruled on the complaint and found that the buyer’s agent had committed professionalmisconduct in that he: “(a) failed to present a counteroffer from the sellers of the property to his client...; (b) permitted hisclient to make a further offer on the property that was substantially higher than the sellers’ undisclosed counteroffer...; (c)failed to inform his client that the commission he requested as buyer’s representative on the first offer was substantiallyhigher than the commission ordinarily given for similar transaction...; (d) failed to inform his client that the second higher offercontained a higher commission than that which was being offered to a cooperating brokerage; and (e) failed to takereasonable steps to avoid a conflict of interest in that he permitted his personal financial interest to conflict with his clients’interest.” All of this was contrary to the Real Estate Services Act and the Council rules. The agent was suspended for 60days, required to pay penalties totalling $3,750 and to undertake remedial training. This decision was posted on the RECBCwebsite: http://www.recbc.ca/complaints/discipline.html where it will remain for five years for all consumers to see.

Stories of this nature reflect poorly on the reputation of the real estate profession as a whole. The RECBC receives about400 complaints a year concerning Realtors’ conduct. Most of these are minor, for example, failure to return a call or toremove one’s shoes during showings, and so on. There were408,412 MLS sales over the past five years in BC, which represents816,824 transactions. There was a total of 215 disciplinary actionsconcerning Realtors taken by the RECBC during this period, or 0.03%of the total transactions. If one digs deeper, we find that there were58 disciplinary actions taken by the RECBC in 2014 against Realtors.Of these, 35 resulted in a reprimand and were largely the result oferrors or omissions, 20 were of a more serious nature and resulted inlicence suspensions and 3 Realtors had their licences cancelled oragreed to leave the industry. These are relatively small numbersconsidering there are some 17,374 Realtors licenced in BC.Misconduct occurs in all professions. Perhaps consumers cantake some comfort in the fact that serious misconduct is a rareoccurrence in the real estate profession and that they haverecourse to the RECBC to seek redress and to ensureaccountability.

2 REAL ESTATE IN VICTORIA...Keeping You Informed Spring 2015

TABLE 2 REAL ESTATE ACTIVITY - Greater VictoriaApril 2014 to March 2015

Single Family Dwellings

District* Sales Ratio Avg. Sale Price % Chg** Victoria/VW 443 .62 $623,053 +3.9Oak Bay 259 .62 $922,866 +4.2Esquimalt 125 .65 $484,851 +5.2View Royal 90 .60 $534,741 +1.2Saanich East 799 .68 $640,043 +0.4Saanich West 338 .60 $536,730 -2.1Central Saanich 177 .59 $613,978 +2.9North Saanich 161 .57 $672,216 +6.1 Sidney 115 .57 $467,153 +4.5Highlands 22 .34 $653,431 +13.8Colwood 202 .54 $500,720 +3.6 Langford 486 .54 $484,544 +0.0Metchosin 36 .41 $674,962 +10.8Sooke 238 .48 $389,474 -0.2Waterfront 128 .43 $1,217,423 +1.4Totals 3,619 .58 $611,038 +1.1Gulf Islands 256 .53 $541,778 +13.3Malahat & Area 260 .54 $455,240 +2.9*District Avg. Sales Prices exclude sales of “Waterfront”

Condominiums 1,721 .53 $325,498 +3.9Townhouses 719 .61 $422,025 +0.7 ** Percentage Change over period Apr 2013 to Mar 2014

THE VICTORIA MARKET

In the 1 Qtr of 2015, the real estate market in Victoria got off tost

one of the strongest starts in recent years. Supply was higherthan the same period last year. However, demand showed asignificant increase. The median sale price has increasedsignificantly from a year ago. The inventory of properties on themarket is down. Finally, the differential between the sale priceand the original list price has tightened, suggesting there arefewer price reductions occurring. The number of “residentialproperties” (i.e., all types of housing excluding lots/acreage andcommercial) listed through the Victoria Real Estate Board’sMLS® in the 1 Qtr of 2015 in was 3,236, up +14.2% from 2,833st

in the 1 Qtr of 2014. Demand was up from the levels in recentST

years. Residential sales through the VREB’s MLS® totalled1,546 in the 1 Qtr of 2015, up +22.2% from 1,265 in the 1 Qtrst st

of 2014. The sales-to-new-listings ratio was .48, up from .44 lastyear. Properties that sold in the 1 Qtr of 2015 were on thest

market for an average of 63 days compared to 66 days last year.The average sale price of a residential property in GreaterVictoria and other areas was $494,446 in the 1 Qtr of 2015,st

up +1.1% from $488,954 in the 1 Qtr of 2014 and still off thest

market peak of $504,491 in the 1 Qtr of 2010. The median salest

price was $455,000 in the 1 Qtr of 2015, up +5.2% fromst

$432,500 last year. The figures for Victoria compare with averageresidential sale prices and year-to-date percentage changes of$859,223 (+3.2%) in Vancouver, $578,411 (+6.7%) in Toronto,$541,031 (+5.9%) in the Fraser Valley and $441,238 (-2.7%) inCalgary for the first two months of 2015.

Table 2 summarizes real estate activity over the past twelvemonths by District and housing category and shows thepercentage change in average sale prices year-over-year.

REAL ESTATE ACTIVITY 1 QTR 2015ST

Sales of SFDs in Greater Victoria totalled 843 in the 1 Qtr ofst

2015, up +27.5% from 661 sales during the same period last year.The average sale price of SFDs in the 1 Qtr of 2015 wasst

$612,575, up +0.9% from $607,202 last year. The median saleprice was $559,500 in the 1 Qtr of 2015, up 5.6% from $530,000 last year. SFDs that sold in the 1 Qtr of 2015 were onst st

the market for an average of 50 days, down from 60 days a year ago. The sales-to-new-listings ratio was .50 in the 1 Qtrst

of 2015, up from .42 last year.

There were 428 condominium sales in the 1 Qtr of 2015, up +20.2% from 356 in the 1 Qtr of 2014. The average salest st

price for a condo was $327,012 in the 1 Qtr of 2015, little changed from $327,032 last year. The median sale pricest

was $279,900, compared to $275,000 last year. Condos that sold in the 1 Qtr were on the market for an average of 64st

days, down from 76 days last year. The sales-to-new-listings ratio was .45 in the 1 Qtr of 2015, up from .41 last year. st

Townhouse sales totalled 164 in the 1 Qtr of 2015, up +21.9% from 135 last year. The average selling price wasst

$427,739 in the 1 Qtr of 2015, up slightly from $424,686 in the 1 Qtr of 2014. The median sale price was $383,000,st st

compared to $385,000 last year. Townhouses that sold in the 1 Qtr of 2015 were on the market for an average of 56 days,st

down from 64 days in last year. The sales-to-new-listings ratio was .53, compared to .41 last year.

Real Estate in Victoria ...Keeping You Informed: I provide this newsletter to clients, customers and friends to help them keep informed of developmentsin the real estate market in the Victoria area. If you do not want to receive this newsletter in the future, please let me know. It is not intended to solicit orinterfere with existing listings or Agency relationships. The information contained herein is based on sources which are believed to be reliable, but it is notguaranteed. The content of this newsletter is copyright©. The data and information outlined herein was derived from a number of sources including: theVREB, the BCREA and the CREA. The Publisher is responsible for the analysis of the data and any opinions expressed herein.