Residential property sales soared in B.C. in March, when a record $3.04 billion worth of homes changed hands on the Multiple Listing Service, shattering the previous monthly dollar-volume high of $2.53 billion set last July.

In terms of units sold, a total of 10,612 transactions took place last month, up 33.5 per cent from March 2003.

MLS figures show this was only the third time since 1990 that the number of sales has topped the 10,000 mark. During the housing boom largely driven by Asian immigration in the early ’90s, 10,328 homes totalling $1.8 billion sold in April 1991, followed by 10,038 units totalling $1.9 billion trading in March 1992.

“I have never seen home sales like this,” veteran Surrey realtor David Herman said Thursday.

“Even though inventories are low in some areas, there are a number of options in B.C. for people looking to buy.”

Through the first three months of 2004, housing sales across the province reached 23,124 units, worth $6.5 billion, an improvement of 33.8 per cent over the same period last year, and a 38.7 per cent increase over the first quarter of 2002.

Herman, president of the B.C. Real Estate Association, representing 13,000 licensed realtors, said all 12 member real estate boards reported “significant” sales gains in March, compared to the same month in 2003.

“That means people are buying homes right across the province, despite varying economic conditions and markets,” Herman noted. “This is shaping up to be another record year.”

For all of 2003, B.C. consumers purchased a record $24.2 billion worth of residential real estate, shattering the previous mark of $19.7 billion set in 2002 by $4.5 billion, a year-over-year rise of 23 per cent.

Unit-wise, a total of 93,211 homes sold on the MLS in B.C. last year, just 353 properties short of the record set in 1992.

In Greater Vancouver, 4,514 sales totalling about $1.64 billion changed hands in March, compared to 3,403 units totalling about $1.07 billion in March 2003, representing increases in units and dollar volume of 32.65 per cent and 53 per cent, respectively.

Condominiums were by far the hottest ticket last month in Greater Vancouver, with 1,432 units sold, up 60 per cent from 1,229 sales the previous year. March’s total condo value of $500 million was up a whopping 87 per cent from $260.7 million a year ago.

In the Fraser Valley, 1,986 homes sold last month, up 27.3 per cent from 1,560 the previous year. March’s total dollar volume of $575 million in the six valley communities was 46.5 per cent higher than $392.4 million the year before.

Around B.C., MLS unit sales rose sharply last month compared to the previous March in Kamloops, up 69 per cent; the Kootenays, up 53.5 per cent; northern B.C., up 46.2 per cent; Vancouver Island, up 44.4 per cent; Chilliwack, up 44.3 per cent; and Victoria, up 31 per cent.

In dollar volume, sales climbed on Vancouver Island, up 72 per cent to $176 million; Kamloops, up 70.5 per cent to $41.3 million; Chilliwack, up 68 per cent to $59.34 million; Powell River, up 58.45 per cent to $31.9 million; and Victoria, up 51.4 per cent to $263.5 million.

“With mortgage rates as affordable as they are, investing in a home is a solid choice,” Herman said.

© The Vancouver Sun 2004