Vancouver real estate prices continued to climb in April. Latest numbers from the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV), show the benchmark price rose to record highs. This was despite a steep decline in sales, and higher inventory than the same time last year.
Prices Are Increasing
The benchmark price continued to creep up, as demand for lower price units pushed the average higher. April saw the composite benchmark price, the price of a typical home with luxury bias removed, hit $941,100. This is a 2.4% increase from last month, and an 11.4% increase from the same time last year. It’s not Toronto’s 20+ percent, but prices are still moving very quickly.
Breaking down the REBGV regions, the highest increase was observed on Bowen Island, and the lowest is in Ladner. Bowen Island saw the composite price hit $878,700, a 29.4% increase from the year prior. On the other end of the market, Ladner saw prices move to $795,900, a 2% increase from the same time last year.
Sales Are Declining
Sales of Vancouver real estate declined all around. REBGV saw 3,553 sales, a 25% decline from the same month last year. This is also a 0.72% drop from last month. March was the peak for sales last year, so it’ll be interesting to see if it continues to decline from here.
Inventory Is Building
Inventory also continued to creep up, hitting a 5 month high. REBGV saw 7,813 listings, a 3.48% increase from the same time last year. New listings declined by 20%, with only 4,907 hitting the market in April. Higher inventory with fewer new listings is a slightly concerning trend for sellers. It may show that there are less buyers interested in entering the market at current prices.
Despite lower demand for Vancouver real estate relative to inventory, enthusiastic buyers continued to drive prices higher. Usually more inventory and less sales has the opposite impact, but buyer mentality plays a large part of where prices go. Next week we’ll break down these segments a little further.
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Agents are the worst. The second Vancouver went down, the real estate agents and mortgage brokers said – “I bet foreign buyers will come to Toronto”. Absolutely no proof. No reason. Just pumping the market. A few months later it turned into fact by the industry – foreign buyers must be driving it. And why foreign buyers? Because the numbers just don’t make sense locally – they haven’t for a long long time but what went from overpriced went to insanity. But if you were a foreign buyer, would you want ocean front in some southern US state or a new 2000 sq ft home in Milton? I mean an average home in a small suburb for 13x income?
I would watch Australia and NZ. Compare the Australian dollar to the Canadian dollar. Look at the real estate markets between both. Look at the rates of immigration. Mining. Foreign buyers. They are twins. Same policies. Same political greed. Big banks and money in US China etc flowing into mortgages into these economies. But once their reputation goes down the lenders will all pull their money and there will be an exodus out of our mortgage markets. The mortgage market is cruel. Always has been. Certainly we can see how much damage an insignificant player like Home Capital has on Canada’s reputation. When you get too high home prices and too high debt, you are basically just waiting for a systemic threat. Anything can pop the bubble once the reputation starts declining it becomes a self fulling prophecy.
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