Greater Vancouver real estate is soaring, but it’s uneven across the region, and all segments. Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV) data shows prices generally advanced in December. Suburban homes represented most of the price gains. The City’s condo apartments even continued to see price growth decelerate.
Greater Vancouver Real Estate Prices Rise 5.5%
The price of a typical home in Greater Vancouver made a sharp monthly move higher. The composite benchmark across REBGV reached $1,056,600 in January, up 0.9% from the month before. This works out to an annual increase of 5.5%, bringing the 3-year price movement to a virtually flat 0.1% decline. Monthly gains have been amplified in the media, but growth was only 0.1 point bigger than last year at this time. It certainly does feel bigger during a recession though.
Greater Vancouver Composite Benchmark Price
The price of a typical home across Greater Vancouver, in Canadian dollars.
Source: REBGV, Better Dwelling.Breaking the composite down by region, we see the City underperformed. Vancouver East’s composite benchmark reached $1,114,300 in January, up 0.2% from a month before. In Vancouver West, the benchmark reached $1,257,100, up 0.5% from the month before. The 12-month increase works out to 4.1% and 0.3% respectively. Both the monthly and annual movements are smaller than the Greater Region. This implies suburban growth is the biggest driver of the trend.
Most Gains Are Due To Suburban Detached Homes
Breaking the composite down by home type, most of the gains are driven by detached home prices. The benchmark for a single-family detached home reached $1,576,800 in January, up 1.4% from a month before – bringing annual gains to 10.8%. Over the past 3 years, the benchmark has fallen 0.5%. Detached prices are making up for lost ground, but haven’t quite reached that point. That said, at this pace, it shouldn’t be surprising to see the 3 year trend turn positive next month. Generally speaking, the growth trend for detached homes has been showing acceleration.
Greater Vancouver Composite Benchmark Price Change
The annual percent change of a typical home across Greater Vancouver.
Source: REBGV, Better Dwelling.The same City trend applied to detached homes, with the suburbs outperforming. Vancouver East detached homes hit a benchmark price of $1,546,700 in January, up 0.1% from a month before – or a gain of 8.6% from last year. In much pricier Vancouver West, that benchmark reached $3,172,600, up 0.3% from the previous month, or 6.8% from a year before. Both monthly gains were just a fraction of the huge 1.4% gain across the Greater Region. Even so, detached homes have been generally seeing accelerated growth.
Vancouver Condos See Price Growth Slow, Holding Index Back
Greater Vancouver condo apartments didn’t do as well as detached homes. The condo benchmark price across REBGV hit $680,800 in January, up 0.6% from the month before, or 2.2% from last year. Condo prices are now down 1.4% from three years ago. The monthly increase was half of that seen last year. This resulted in a decelerating annual growth trend.
Once again, the suburbs are outperforming the City. Vancouver East’s condo apartment benchmark reached $595,800 in January, up 0.1% from the month before, or an increase of 1.8% from last year. In Vancouver West the benchmark hit $762,500, up 0.4% from the previous month, or down 1.7% from last year. Both regions are seeing price growth decelerate even faster than the general region.
Not a lot is new or surprising this month. The suburbs are on fire, while the City is seeing much slower price growth. Rock bottom mortgage rates are fueling more detached sales, while cheap condo apartments are seeing price growth continue to decelerate. For the first time in a while, Vancouver looks like other major real estate markets in the country.
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The higher they fly, the farther they fall.
Bob…arm chair experts have be calling for the crash for at least 15 years. An yet prices keep going up. The price of the house is in Canadian dollars. If Ottawa keeps spending you can count on inflation, which makes the dollar worth less. My first car was a 1980 Firebird Formula. I bought it new for $9689. My parents bought their fist home for $14,500 in 1965. Inflation is coming, a crash not so much.
Past performance does not predict future gains. Canadian, and in particular, Vancouver real estate has risen so dramatically that it would take decades of hyperinflation to slowly return to a normal market. Local incomes cannot support these prices. My money is on a crash.
Inflation doesn’t effect foreign investors, so don’t expect a devalued loonie to regulate housing
1 million was s threshold for homes a few years ago. Covid pushed the timeline and suddenly houses across Canada not only in select pockets like Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal were being snapped up.
Now as per Stats Canada highest number of FOMO and local speculation and increased immigration/multi family purchasing power combined with provincial red tape on building the supply cannot keep up with the demand. A great economic forum recently laid out the answer as social housing to meet the demand not incentives to the buy side which only fuels the demand.