Metro Vancouver’s Recent Market Conditions Favour Home Sellers

The recent housing market conditions across Metro Vancouver continue to favour home sellers.

According to the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV), the residential property sales in Metro Vancouver had reached 3,345 on the Multiple Listing Service or MLS in September of this year. Such figure represents a 14.5% increase compared to last year with recorded sales of 2,922. However, compared to August 2015’s 3,362 sales, there’s a slight decrease of 0.5%.

But compared to the 10-year sales average for the month, last month’s sale was a 32.9% increase. For most of the year, the residential home sales are typically at 25 – 30% above the 10-year sales average. As Darcy McLeod, REBGV president said, “the number of homes listed for sale hasn’t been keeping up with the demand.” Such dynamic is placing an upward pressure on home prices, specifically in the detached home market.

In Metro Vancouver, new listings for detached, attached and apartment properties summed up to 4,846 in September. In comparison to last year’s figure of 5,259 new listings on the same month, it’s a 7.9% decline. If we look at the real estate board’s MLS, there are 10,805 total properties being listed for sale. It represents a 27% decline compared to September 2014 as well as 0.8% decline compared to August 2015.

Meanwhile, this year also exceeded the 14,000-figure or number of homes being listed for sale, which is the first time to occur in the region since 2007. Compared to September 2014, this year has a 13.7% increase in MLS Home Price Index composite benchmark price for all residential properties in Metro Vancouver at $722,300.

According to the analysts, the downward pressure on home prices happens when the sales-to-active-listings ratio declines below the 12% mark. On the other hand, home prices often have an upward pressure when it reaches 20% or higher in a certain area for a sustained period of time. There’s a 31% ratio in September of this year.