It seems that more homebuyers are having cold feet about the Vancouver real estate market.

“Buyers are less active today. This is allowing the supply of homes for sale to accumulate to levels we haven’t seen in the last few years,” Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver president Phil Moore said in a news release this morning. “Rising interest rates, high prices, and more restrictive mortgage requirements are among the factors dampening home buyer activity today.”

The comment came as the REBGV was reporting that home sales in June were down 37.7% from the same month in 2017.

The 2,425 sales last month were also off 14.4% from the previous month and 28.7% below the 10-year average.

Fewer home sales mean less property-transfer-tax revenue flowing into the provincial treasury. In 2018-19, the province expects to collect nearly $2.3 billion through these taxes.

The benchmark price for all properties in the REBGV’s territory is nearly $1.1 million. This area includes Whistler and Squamish but not White Rock, North Delta, Langley, and Surrey, which are all part of the Fraser Valley Real Estate Board.

Sales of detached homes were down 42% on a year-to-year basis, whereas apartment sales fell 34.9% and attached home sales were off 37.3%.

On the East Side of Vancouver, the number of detached home sales dropped from 157 in June 2017 to 97 last month.  On the West Side, the number of detached home sales fell from 112 to 80 over the same period.

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Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver, “Home seller supply grows as demand declines”, accessed July 4, 2018, https://www.rebgv.org/news-statistics/home-seller-supply-grows-demand-declines