September home sales plunge nearly 33% in Metro Vancouver
Tiffany Crawford
The Province
The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver says home sales in Metro Vancouver plunged by nearly 33 per cent in September over last year, as uncertainty continues in the housing market.
In a report Tuesday, the board said the number of sales dipped below the 10-year monthly sales average last month for the first time since May 2014.
There were 2,253 sales last month, a decrease of 32.6 per cent from the 3,345 sales recorded in September 2015 and a decrease of 9.5 per cent compared to August 2016 when 2,489 homes sold.
Last month’s sales were 9.6 per cent below the 10-year sales average for the month, according to the report.
As for the cost of a home in Metro Vancouver, prices remained stable, with a slight decline month to month. The composite benchmark price for all residential properties in Metro Vancouver, according to the board, is $931,900, a 0.1 per cent decline compared to August. Year over year, however there is still an increase of 28.9 per cent increase.
The cost of a detached home remained steady at nearly $1.6 million, which increased by 33.7 per cent over last September, but represents a small decline of 0.1 per cent compared with August.
Board president Dan Morrison says changing market conditions are easing upward pressure on home prices in the region. August was the second month that a 15 per cent tax applied to foreign buyers.
“There’s uncertainty in the market at the moment and home buyers and sellers are having difficulty establishing price as a result,” he said, in a statement Tuesday.
The biggest hit was in the sales of detached properties compared with last year, which decreased 47.6 per cent to just 666 homes sold. Town homes were down 32.2 per cent and sales of condos declined by 20.3 per cent.
New listings for detached, attached and apartment properties were down one per cent to 4,799 in September, and down 11.8 per cent since August.
The report says the total number of homes currently listed for sale is 9,354, a 13.4 per cent decline compared to September 2015 and a 10 per cent increase compared to August 2016.
The sales-to-active listings ratio for September 2016 is 24.1 per cent, the lowest since February 2015.
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