Great Victoria’s westside city of Langford is growing at an incredible rate, up nearly 21 per cent from 29,228 residents in 2011 to 35,342 in 2016. The city is expected to welcome nearly 10,000 more residents by 2030, attracting migrants from the Capital Region, Metro Vancouver and Alberta. Langford is considered the commercial centre of the West Shore region, with over $25 million in commercial permit value recorded in 2017. Housing starts have increased over 12 per cent from 2016 to 2017, totaling 963 units in 2017. The increase in supply has led to a slight increase in the city’s apartment vacancy rate, placed at 1.5 per cent for 2017. The city’s downtown office vacancy rate is estimated at $25 per square foot, not far behind Vancouver’s per-square-foot value of $30. Industrial properties typically lease for between $13 and $14 per square foot. Homes remain fairly affordable compared to the mainland and Victoria ($804,900), with the single-family benchmark price just over $600,000 as of January 2018.
