Victoria Real Estate Statistics and Data

 I have recently been studying the technology behind the real estate industry. One of the newest sites for Victoria BC real estate contains a large set of data to help with analysis on the market.  As a homeowner in the market, I have been curious about the effects of Covid-19 on the Vancouver Island real estate market in general.

My partner and I were amongst the lucky ones who got out of Vancouver prior to the market correct in 2018 and 2020 Coronavirus scare.  Since Jan 2020, a number of people have begun making the transition.

After analyzing the real estate data on this page, I have started crunching the data with R, a statistical computing language. Using Vancouver Island real estate data itself was not sufficient, so I have now expanded the scope of the project to include other statistical data. While the project is in early stages, it appears that there was an acceleration in migration from larger cities to Victoria, BC and surrounding areas.  The Victoria BC real estate price averages seem to show a significant uptick during the same time. A realtor friend had told me that initially, leads dried up during the first months of Covid, then the flood gates seemed to open.

While the initial results are indicative, there is no clear causality relationship established between Covid and rural real estate purchases, only a working theory that some people used Covid as a final nudge to get away from urban areas and secure real estate in a more rural and livable location.

I will continue to update as data becomes available.

Apply to Participate in Solar Decathlon by October 26

From my friends at the US DOE, an immense opportunity! 

Compete in the next U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon® and join more than 25,000 students from 35 countries who have experienced the impact of this unique, life-changing competition! 

New and returning collegiate institutions are encouraged to register and participate in this competition that prepares the next generation of building professionals to design and build high-performance, low-carbon buildings powered by renewables. 

 Apply to Compete The Solar Decathlon Competition Guide, 2022 Design Challenge Rules, and 2023 Build Challenge Rules are now available to the public at https://www.solardecathlon.gov/

All collegiate institutions are encouraged to apply to participate in the next edition of Solar Decathlon by October 26, 2021, at 5:00 p.m. ET. Team Applications can be submitted for both the Design Challenge and the Build Challenge. The 2022 Design Challenge Finalist Teams and 2023 Build Challenge Participating Teams will present their projects to juries of experts in April 2022, at the Solar Decathlon Competition Event hosted by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in Golden, Colorado. At that event, the 2022 Design Challenge winners will be selected; qualifying 2023 Build Challenge Participating Teams will receive approval to proceed to the construction phase. 

Up to 20 advancing Build Challenge teams will receive $50,000 prizes which can be used to help defray a portion of their project costs.

Check it out at https://www.solardecathlon.gov/

SEO for difficult terms like "Real Estate"

Consider this blog post an addendum to earlier posts on the topic of Search Engine Optimization. Many people have asked us how to get the number one position. This depends upon the search term you are trying to get the listing for. Sadly, this is the Achilles heel that many fail to consider.

As an example, if you are trying to achieve the number one spot for "Real Estate in Victoria BC", you need to realize this is a very competitive term and there are realtors throwing tons of money into achieving the same result.  If you are trying to get the number one spot for "XCellois Edible Kites" or "Veemo Micromobility", these terms are somewhat more specific to a single company.  By contrast, they are much easier to achieve the #1 position for. The lesson here is to understand the laws of supply and demand.

As with any endeavour, the first place to start is research. Many so called "SEO Experts" fail to actually read the valuable information placed in the Google Search Central website.  Be sure to read the data there and understand how Google actually works.  We get tons of questions every week asking about the specifics of SEO and find most of the answers sought by our clients are available via this website.

Another place to start researching your SEO is the Google Keyword Suggestion tool.  This will give you the approximate volumes of search inventory that are available based on what people actually search for.

It is also important to understand that Google search results are based upon a dynamic algorithm. There is no magic formula for getting to the #1 spot and then staying there forever.  Google measures how people interact with search results and use this data to constantly change the top ten results for any search term.

As always, if you do need help, drop us a line and we will try our best to help out.  We've been at this for 26 years, since the days of Lycos, Alta Vista and other search engines prior to Google.