SEPTEMBER 2, 2025

MARKET SLOWER THAN IN JULY BUT STILL AHEAD OF LAST YEAR

NANAIMO, BC – The Vancouver Island Real Estate Board (VIREB) recorded 692 unit sales (all property types) in August 2025, up six percent from one year ago. Year-over-year active listings (all property types) were 4,405, down three percent from the previous year.

In the single-family category (excluding acreage and waterfront), 339 homes sold in August, up three per cent from one year ago and down 19 per cent from July. Sales of condo apartments last month came in at 74, an increase of nine percent year over year and up four percent from July. In the row/townhouse category, 72 units changed hands in August, up four percent from one year ago and down 24 percent
from July.

Active listings of single-family homes were 1,424 last month compared to 1,564 in August 2024. VIREB’s inventory of condo apartments was 396 in August, down from the 437 listings posted one year ago. There were 355 row/townhouses for sale last month compared to 364 in August 2024.

VIREB Chair Olivier Naud notes that VIREB’s housing market is in the mid-range of balanced, with approximately six months of inventory.

“August was slower than July, but that’s typical with back to school on the horizon,” says Naud. “However, sales were up from the previous August, and our market is proving to be resilient. There is pent-up demand but still some hesitancy that we attribute to ongoing tariff concerns.”

However, Naud adds that tariff worries have turned out to be more of a psychological deterrent than an economic one. The British Columbia Real Estate Association (BCREA) reports that the 35 per cent tariff is only on non-compliant goods, which is a very small share of exports (less than 10 per cent).

“The effective tariff rate on all Canadian exports to the United States is about five percent only, and on U.S. imports to Canada, it’s about two percent,” says Naud. “So, there has actually been minimal impact on growth or inflation, which has likely contributed to our resilient market.”

Moving on to prices, the board-wide benchmark price (MLS® Home Price Index) of a single-family home was $796,900 in August 2025, up two percent from one year ago and down slightly from July. In the apartment category, the benchmark price was $406,400 last month, up one percent from the previous August and a small uptick from July. The benchmark price of a townhouse in August was $546,800, up one percent from the prior year and down one percent from the previous month.

In Campbell River, the benchmark price of a single-family home was $702,700 last month, up two percent from August 2024. The Comox Valley’s year-over-year benchmark price rose by three per cent to $854,400. In the Cowichan Valley, the benchmark price was $796,900, up two percent from August 2024. Nanaimo’s year-over-year benchmark price rose slightly to $820,700, while the ParksvilleQualicum area saw its benchmark price increase by one per cent to $925,800. The cost of a benchmark single-family home in Port Alberni was $524,500, up one percent from the previous year. For the North Island, the benchmark price of a single-family home rose by six per cent to $469,800.

(Reposted courtesy of Vancouver Island Real Estate Board)