Market Report

Salt Spring Island real estate was a buyers’ market from late 2008 until spring/summer of 2015. The low of the market was probably 2012/13. Since 2015 Salt Spring has been a sellers’ market with prices trending up. The main source of buyers on Salt Spring has been buyers from the Vancouver area.

Below are the Salt Spring Real Estate statistics;
Please note: the median of a set of numbers is that number where half the numbers are lower and half the numbers are higher.

Typically on Salt Spring there is a large number of new listings that come on the market in the spring;

The Current vs Sold graph represents the number of new listings compared to the number of sold listings over time based on the specified listing type.












Sales per year


New listings

Months of Inventory

Active listings per year

 

Simplified hierarchy of Salt Spring real estate;

  1. Waterfront (on the ocean, not a lake)
  2. Waterview
  3. Sunny south facing interior
  4. Non-view darker interior
  5. Condos (most are townhouses)
  6. High-density areas (Maliview and or Grantsville)

The main cohort of buyers on Salt Spring are Semi-retired people, age 55 plus, from Vancouver/lower mainland.  These buyers are driving the Salt Spring Real Estate market.  Most have cashed out of the city and are moving to the island to enjoy a healthy active semi-retirement.

Another cohort of buyers moving to Salt Spring are younger families who the main source of income is working online.   This seems to be a growing trend on the island with so many moving away from Vancouver and the high cost and all looking for a small town/rural environment to raise their families.   One of the main reason this is happening is SHAW Cable company has invested millions on Salt Spring bringing high-speed cable to almost all homes.   The young families are mostly buying up the low-end homes.

Price and time on the market all comes down to the basics: location, state of home and price.  Most homes that sell faster will have great locations, will be staged perfectly and will be priced comparably to the sold homes.  Homes that need work take longer to sell if they are not priced accordingly.

For detailed stats on any part of the Salt Spring real estate market contact email Scott Simmons

Please note all stats are from the Victoria Real Estate Board data.