According to Jill Oudil, President of Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV), a lack of new listings coupled with strong demand for condos and townhomes, continued to impact Metro Vancouver’s housing market in March.
To understand what’s going on, let’s look at four key indicators:
Sales
Realtors registered 3,579 sales in March 2017, a decrease of 30.8 % from the 5,173 sales recorded in record-breaking March 2016 and approximately 8% above the 10-year sales average for the month.
Property Listings
New listings for detached, attached and apartment properties in Metro Vancouver totalled 4,762 last months, nearly unchanged from February 2017 and roughly 3% higher than this time last year.
New listings continue to be well below the 10-year sales average for the month.
Home Prices
The benchmark price for all residential properties in Metro Vancouver is currently $919,300, a 1.4% increase compared to February 2017. To understand the relationship between supply and demand, we look to the sales-to-active listings ratio.
Sales-to-Active Listings Ratio
The region’s sales-to-active listings ratio today is 47%, a 15-point increase over February. The change is primarily due to an increased demand for townhomes and condos. Generally, analysts say that downward pressure on home prices occurs when the ratio dips below the 12% mark for a sustained period, while home prices can experience upward pressure when it surpasses 20% over several months.
Vancouver’s housing market is a tale of two markets. Compared to the record-breaking March of 2016, nearly half of single family homes were sold this year. When looking at condo’s however, the difference is only 18%. This means the sales-to-active listings ratio looks different for each of these housing types.
Single family homes are currently sitting at 25%, while condos at 83%. The strong demand compared to low supply creates the conditions for price increases. The benchmark price for detached properties is $1,489,400. This represents a 5% decrease over the past six months and a 1% increase compared to February 2017. Condo prices are 5% above six months ago, with a benchmark price of $537,400.
In my opinion, home prices will continue until we see more new listings coming onto the market.
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Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver, “Demand for homes continues to outpace supply in Metro Vancouver”, accessed April 11, 2017, http://www.rebgv.org/news-statistics/demand-homes-continues-outpace-supply-metro-vancouver
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