Residential real estate sales have cratered in the Victoria Real Estate Board region, but that hasn’t deterred one property owner from putting a heritage property up for sale.
And not just any property – it’s an Oak Bay mansion known as Kingsmount that was built in 1910 and is on sale for the first time ever.
The sale price for the property at 305 Denison Rd. is $7.8 million. The house is 11,000 square feet on .82 acres with seven bedrooms and six bathrooms.
The house is considered an “outstanding example” of British Arts and Crafts architecture, according to the listing.
The house has an entire page devoted to it on the District of Oak Bay website.
“‘Kingsmount’ is valued as a very fine example of British Arts and Crafts in its principled use of honest materials such as the use of random rubble stone in this rocky location, high standard of craftsmanship and siting,” reads a post on the Oak Bay website.
“The value of ‘Kingsmount’ is associated with its architects, D.C. Frame and Samuel Maclure. Built between 1910 and 1911, Kingsmount was designed by David Cowper Frame (1882-1960) for civil engineer George Leask.”
The house has a stellar view across the Strait of Juan de Fuca to Mount Baker, with a large patio to take it all in.
The listing has been on the market for a few months amid slowing sales in the region.
A total of 407 properties sold in the Victoria Real Estate Board region this October, 15.2-per-cent fewer than the 480 properties sold in October 2022 and a 17.4-per-cent decrease from September 2023. Sales of condominiums were down 7.2 per cent from October 2022 with 141 units sold. Sales of single-family homes decreased 16.1 per cent from October 2022 with 193 sold.
“Overall, property sales drifted down in October compared to the previous month, likely due to consumers continuing to navigate interest rates higher than those seen in nearly two decades,” said Victoria Real Estate Board chair Graden Sol, in a news release. “The uncertainty around the direction of the Bank of Canada rate announcement in mid-October may have caused some buyers to push their purchasing plans into the future because it was unclear if rates were going to be hiked again or remain stable. Generally speaking, when we have periods of static interest rates, consumer confidence returns to the market. We can recall earlier in the year when rates plateaued; we saw an uptick in sales in the weeks after. However, when rates began to rise again, we saw consumer confidence falter.”
There were 2,756 active listings for sale on the Victoria Real Estate Board Multiple Listing Service at the end of October 2023, an increase of 2.1 per cent compared to the previous month of September and a 25.7-per-cent increase from the 2,192 active listings for sale at the end of October 2022.
“The good news in October was that we continued to see a slow and steady increase in the number of available properties for sale,” adds Sol. “This additional inventory is positive for buyers who will have more selection than they’ve experienced in recent years. The real estate market tends to slow down in late fall and winter, but there are still a good number of active buyers. If you’re thinking about making a move during the colder months, reach out to your local REALTOR to plan your strategy.”
The Multiple Listing Service Home Price Index benchmark value for a single-family home in the Victoria Core in October 2022 was $1,257,100. The benchmark value for the same home in October 2023 increased by 3.9 per cent to $1,305,900, which is down from September’s value of $1,312,200. The MLS HPI benchmark value for a condominium in the Victoria Core area in October 2022 was $575,300, while the benchmark value for the same condominium in October 2023 increased by 1.8 per cent to $585,600, which is down from the September value of $589,600.
