The Story of the Last Month – Low Supply and Tumbling Sales

Justin trudeau in Vancouver
Justin trudeau in Vancouver

The month of February has limited days and so was the housing supply and home sales across Vancouver in the month – Limited! What a coincidence!

The residential sales in Vancouver dropped dramatically in February 2017 juxtaposed to last year’s record-breaking leap. According to The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver, the reason for such a low housing sale is a limitation in the supply of listings and an abnormally snowy start to the year that had an effect on the Vancouver housing market.

There were 3,666 new listings in the February month; this is an almost 37 % fall from February 2016 and an 11 percent decline from the month of January. According to the board, this is the lowest number of new listings registered in February since 2003.

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Vancouver listing February 2017 vs February 2016

The Board mentioned that the housing sales amounted to 2,425 in February, which is approximately a 42% drop from the same month last year. Nevertheless, the residential sales went up an almost 59%, compared to the month of January 2017.

The board further shared more information about the market drop in February. It said that the number of housing properties that got transferred in the month was 7.7%, which is just below the 10-year sales average for February.

The President of the Board, Dan Morrison remarked, “If you go to the store and there’s no bread on the shelf, you don’t buy it.” He further said, “While home sales are not happening at the pace we experienced last year, home seller supply is still struggling to keep up with today’s demand. This is why we’ve seen little downward pressure on home prices, particularly in the condominium and townhome markets.”

Morrison indicated that for months individuals had held a “wait and see” approach towards the housing market that had already begin to cool off before the foreign buyer’s tax was announced by the British Columbia government in Metro Vancouver in August 2016.

Although, Morrison has hope for he mentioned that the signs indicating the return of confidence in the Vancouver real estate market have surfaced. The sales-to-active listings ratio in February was 31.9%, a 10 percentage point surge from the first month of 2017.

Greater Vancouver Condo Values Rise & Benchmark Prices for Properties

The price of condos and townhouses in Greater Vancouver is rising despite of the sinking sales. As discussed above, the sales fell to a considerable extent as compared to last year.

The MLS® Home Price Index composite benchmark price is a representation of the cost of a typical property in the city. The present benchmark price in Metro Vancouver is $906,700, low by 2.8% over the previous six months.

The Real Estate Board said that the benchmark price for detached housing properties is $1.47 million. This figure showcases a 6.5 percent drop over the preceding six months, and there has been no change in the numbers compared to January 2017. On the other hand, the benchmark price for condominiums was $526,300. The price has taken a 2.3 jump over the previous six months.

Let’s sign off by using a statement by Tom Davidoff regarding the matter, “Certainly; I don’t think we’re done with the downward pressures. They still exist.”

Now, let’s see how the coming months for Metro Vancouver’s real estate market unfurl.