‘Oasis’ or ‘McMansion’? Oak Bay home on golf course selling for whopping $9M

Greater Victoria home sales have fallen faster than the Vancouver Canucks in the Western Conference, but that hasn’t stopped some sellers from shooting for the moon with their prices.

The latest is an Oak Bay home at 501 Newport Ave. which is currently on sale for $9 million.

But is this seller only dreaming?

“Welcome to your own oasis,” reads the property listing.

Located on the Victoria Golf Club, this custom-built home measures 9,000 square feet with seven bedrooms and seven bathrooms on 0.5 acres.

“With a gated entrance off a roundabout driveway, this home is private and quiet” – although people from the golf course and next door can see straight into its backyard.

The house also has a games room and a sauna.

Is it really an oasis, or is it a McMansion that looks like most new builds?

Compare that with another Oak Bay home that is currently selling for about $250,000 less. It is located at 249 King George Terrace (scroll below to see a picture of it). This house is actually bigger than the one in Newport and also has its own giant pool.

Even more than that, it’s 0.80 acres and sits on the edge of a cliff with stunning ocean views — features that usually command the highest price tag. (A side note is that this home was actually valued at $11.6 million in 2022, but sells for just under $9 million.)

The King George house has been on the market for almost six months and recently reduced its price, so maybe the market is saying a little something to mansion sellers.

Victoria’s property market continues to slump, hitting January sales that have been described as “the slowest” in the region’s history.

A total of 278 properties sold in the Victoria Real Estate Board area in January, down 41.4% from the 474 properties sold in January 2022 and down 13.1% from December 2022, according to data from the VREB.

Condominium sales decreased by 46.3% compared to January 2022 with 101 units sold. Single-family home sales were down 33% from January 2022 with 120 sales.

“If you look at the statistics, this January has been one of the slowest months we’ve ever seen,” Victoria Real Estate Board 2023 Chairman Graden Sol said in a statement.

A total of 320 properties sold in the Victoria Real Estate Board area in December 2022, down 26.9% from the 438 properties sold in December 2021 and down 16.7% from November 2022. Sales of condominiums decreased by 38.2% compared to December 2021 with 94 units sold. Single-family home sales were down 24.6% from December 2021 with 156 sales.

A grand total of 6,804 properties sold during 2022, down 32.3% from the 10,052 sold in 2021. Sales in 2022 came closer to the sales year of 2014, when 6,698 properties were sold.

There were 1,688 active listings for sale on the Victoria Real Estate Board’s multiple listings service at the end of December 2022, a decrease of 20% from the previous November, but an increase of 158.9% compared to the 652 active listings for sale at the end of December 2021.

RELATED: Cavernous Mansion With 3 Kitchens Selling For $10 Million As Victoria Estate Craters

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