Slow activity has gradually decelerated home sales
Ephraim Vecina
Mortgage Broker News
Slower overall activity has spurred the gradual deceleration of both home sales volume and prices in Vancouver, according to the region’s real estate association.
November’s sales numbers were 42.5% lower on a year-over-year basis, and 34.7% below the 10-year average, data from the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver indicated.
Board president Phil Moore attributed this and the lower prices across all property types to a “wait-and-see approach” that a substantial proportion of would-be buyers and investors have adopted for most of 2018.
Last month, the average price of Vancouver detached homes stood at just over $1.5 million, while apartments were at $667,800 (2.3% annual decrease).
As a whole, Western Canada has been seeing a downward trend in demand. This was most pronounced in October, according to Canadian Real Estate Association.
The CREA’s October measurement of the nationwide sales-to-new-listings ratio showed that Vancouver experienced a 26.22% year-over-year shrinkage in this metric to reach 48.4.
This also made the city’s demand levels the third lowest in Western Canada, a situation that might only get worse due to the fact that only 1 out of 10 current renters in the city are expecting to have their own homes next year.
“While homebuying intentions are up among current home buyers [14% in 2017 to 19% this year], this has been offset by weaker intentions among current renters – the latter being the primary pool for potential first-time buyers. Affordability remains a challenge for first-time buyers in the Vancouver market,” according to the Altus Group’s Vancouver Flash Report 2018.
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