Because many of the home buyers on Vancouver Island are retirees, who do not typically need mortgages, the market here has been somewhat sheltered from the effects of new mortgage qualification rules.
That’s according to the Vancouver Island Real Estate Board.
However, housing demand in the Board area is lower with 438 sales in June compared to 556 one year ago.
Nanaimo’s benchmark price was 534,300 dollars, the same as June but a nine per cent increase from one year ago.
The Parksville-Qualicum area saw its benchmark price increase by 14 per cent to 579,500 dollars.
On the Sunshine Coast, house prices have dropped point 7-per cent from June to July to a benchmark price of 625,900 dollars.
Last month, the benchmark price of a single-family home in Duncan area at 446,700 dollars, down slightly from June but up 10 per cent from July 2017.
