Andy Ivens
Province
Detached homes on Prior Street have the ‘for sale’ signs hanging out. Housing prices have dropped 11 per cent recently, but bargains are being ignored. Photograph by : Ric Ernst
It’s a buyers’ market for real estate in the Lower Mainland, but there are fewer buyers.
With global doom and gloom eroding consumer confidence, 2008 saw a decline in the average cost of housing of about 11 per cent — 14.8 per cent from May to December — the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver said in its year-end report.
But instead of snapping up the bargains, homeowners are waiting for the market to bottom out.
Sales of detached houses, townhouses and apartments decreased 35.3 per cent in 2008 to 24,626 sales compared to 38,050 sales in 2007, said the report.
The trend spells an end to the record-breaking real-estate market cycle in Greater Vancouver that saw a longer-than-normal rise in prices for seven consecutive years.
Since May 2008, the overall residential benchmark price has declined 14.8 per cent in Greater Vancouver to $484,211 from $568,411.
“For buyers, lower prices haven’t been a concern as much as the perception that prices are falling,” REBGV president Dave Watt said in a press release.
“It’s difficult to identify the bottom of the market.
“The reality is that people tend to buy when prices are going up, not when they’re going down.
“Trends in the latter half of 2008 showed a consistent month-over-month decrease in residential housing prices, a departure from the rising home prices and record-breaking sales that were experienced in Greater Vancouver for much of this decade.
“It’s also important to note that our December statistics show a third consecutive month of a decrease in active property listings in Greater Vancouver.
“That means supply is coming down,” Watt said.
“Last month was also the first time in 27 years that Greater Vancouver homes sales for December were higher than November.”
Those hoping to get into the Lower Mainland housing market have watched with dismay for the past seven years while the average for a single family detached home rose from $357,770 in December 2001 to $730,399 in December 2007.
It’s down to $648,421 in December 2008.
Overall, sales of detached, attached and apartment properties decreased 35.3 per cent in 2008 to 24,626 sales compared to 38,050 sales in 2007, said the report.
The REBGV represents realtors in South Delta, every municipality north of the Fraser River west of Mission and north to Whistler.
The story is much the same for housing prices in the rest of the Valley.
“Sales of all property types for [2008] declined 30 per cent in the Fraser Valley,” according to a report from the Fraser Valley Real Estate Board, which takes in North Delta, Surrey, White Rock, Langley, Abbotsford and Mission.
Residential benchmark prices for a typical Fraser Valley detached home decreased 6.5 per cent from $496,391 in December 2007, compared to $464,189 last month, the FVREB said in a press release.
“That price has decreased 9.7 per cent since May 2008 when it was $513,798,” said the release.
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