vancouver Market update

Vancouver Real Estate 2019

Looking back at the 2019 Vancouver Real Estate Market

Home sales decline below long-term averages in 2019 despite increased demand to end the year

The Metro Vancouver housing market experienced below average sales activity and moderate price declines in 2019.

The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV) reports that sales of detached, attached and apartment homes reached 25,351 in 2019, a three per cent increase from the 24,619 sales recorded in 2018, and a 29.6 per cent decrease over the 35,993 residential sales in 2017.

Last year’s sales total was 20.3 per cent below the region’s 10-year sales average.

“We didn’t see typical seasonal patterns in 2019. Home buyer demand was quieter in the normally busy spring season and it picked up in the second half of the year,” Ashley Smith, REBGV president said. “In terms of home values, prices dipped between two and four per cent across the region last year depending on property type.”

Home listings on the Multiple Listing Service® (MLS®) in Metro Vancouver reached 51,918 in 2019. This is a 3.2 per cent decrease compared to the 53,614 homes listed in 2018 and a five percent decrease compared to the 54,655 homes listed in 2017.

Last year’s listings total was 7.6 per cent below the 10-year average.

“Home buyer confidence was a factor throughout the year. In the first quarter, many prospective buyers were in a holding pattern, waiting to see how prices would react to the mortgage stress test, new taxes, and other policy changes,” Smith said. “Confidence started to return in the summer, and we saw above average sales in the final quarter of 2019.”

The MLS® HPI composite benchmark price for all residential properties in Metro Vancouver ends the year at $1,001,000. This is a 3.1 per cent decrease compared to December 2018.

The benchmark price of apartments decreased 2.7 per cent in the region last year. Townhomes decreased 2.4 per cent and detached homes decreased four per cent.

Source: REBGV-Stats-Pkg-December-2019

New Metro Vancouver real estate offer: Buy a townhouse, get a Tesla

This week, the escalating arms race between developers seeking to attract prospective buyers for their condominium and townhouse projects in Metro Vancouver reached new heights.

“We will include a free Tesla for every home you buy, “said Celia Chiu, Viridian Homes sales manager.. 

In its Viridian development overlooking the Nicomekl River, Developer Century Group offers a Model 3 Tesla base model with each of the remaining 10 homes.

Chiu said the rest of the homes have been on the market for the past year, but the whole community has “been around for two years and we wanted to take it to the next level with a market having a kind of subtle stall.”

The townhouse project includes 57 units, each with a living space of over 2,000 square feet and a price tag starting at just over $1 million.

The offered Teslas is valued at $55,000. The promotion will be available from Saturday onwards and will continue until October 31 or until the final 10 units are sold in the development.

“An incentive like this does have to have a wow factor,” Chiu added.

Each of the remaining units is fitted with a charging station for electric vehicles, something Century Group president Sean Hodgins said in a release reflects the project’s “innovative design with energy-efficient capabilities.”

 

Century Group is far from being the first developer to give potential buyers an incentive as the once white-hot real estate market in Vancouver has cooled in latest months. Earlier this year, Woodbridge Homes announced a plan to attract millennial home buyers to their West Coquitlam Kira development by providing them a year-long free avocado toast.

One month ago, Wesgroup Properties provided purchasers a glass of wine per day for a year if they bought a house during the month of June at MODE in South Vancouver.Real estate agent Gurdial Badh told CTV News Vancouver he admires the move. “Either he does that or does a price reduction to come in line with what the market is today.”

In recent months, the market has been soft, leading to lower rates, but sales are rising.

“We’re seeing a lot more activity on the lower range and once the low range starts moving then obviously it will have an impact on the higher price range properties,” said Badh.

What’s the future holding? Badh said there’s a lot to do with who’s forming the next federal government after October 21 election day.

“The primary thing that I believe the state wants to do is to assist these first-time buyers,” he said, hoping the market will pick up pace again.

Source URL: “https://bc.ctvnews.ca/new-metro-vancouver-real-estate-offer-buy-a-townhouse-get-a-tesla-1.4592813”

The housing market in Metro Vancouver is seeing a summer rise in sales

Home buyer activity has risen throughout the summer months to more typical levels in Metro Vancouver.

The Greater Vancouver Real Estate Board (REBGV) reports that in August 2019, residential home sales in the region totaled 2,231, a 15.7% increase from the 1,929 sales recorded in August 2018, and a 12.7% decrease from the 2,557 homes sold in July 2019.

Sales last month were 9.2 percent below the average sales in August for 10 years.

“In July and August, home sales returned to a more historically ordinary level than in the first six months of the year.,” said REBGV President Ashley Smith.

At Metro Vancouver in August 2019, there were 3,747 detached, attached and newly listed apartment properties for sale on the Multiple Listing Service ® (MLS ®). This represents a decline of 3.5 percent compared to the 3,881 households mentioned in August 2018 and a decline of 18.8 percent compared to the 4,613 homes mentioned in July 2019.

The total number of homes currently listed on Metro Vancouver’s MLS ® system for sale is 13,396, a 13.3% increase over August 2018 (11,824) and a 5.9% decline over July 2019 (14,240).

For all property types, the sales-to-active listings ratio for August 2019 is 16.7 per cent. By type of property, the percentage for detached homes is 12%, for townhouses 18.4% and for apartments 21.2%.

Analysts generally claim downward pressure on home prices happens when the ratio falls below 12 percent over a continuous period of time, while home prices often experience upward pressure when they exceed 20 percent over several months.

“With more demand from home buyers, the supply of listed households for sale does not accumulate as in the previous year. These modifications create a more balanced market situation,” Smith said.

The composite benchmark cost of the MLS ® Home Price Index for all Metro Vancouver housing properties is presently $993,300. This reflects a decline of 8.3 percent over August 2018 and a decline of 0.2 percent over July 2019.

Detached house sales reached 706 in August 2019, up 24.5% from 567 detached sales in August 2018. For detached homes, the benchmark price is $1,406,700. This represents a decline of 9.8 percent from August 2018 and a decline of 0.7 percent from July 2019.

In August 2019, sales of apartment houses reached 1,116, an increase of 8.9 percent compared to August 2018’s 1,025 sales. A property’s benchmark cost is $654,000. This reflects a decline of 7.4 percent from August 2018 and an increase of 0.1 percent from July 2019.

Attached home sales totaled 409 in August 2019, up 21.4 percent from August 2018’s 337 revenues. A unit’s benchmark cost is $771,000. This represents a decline of 7.8% from August 2018, up 0.2% from July 2019.

Source Link : “https://www.rebgv.ca/content/rebgv/en/newsletter/realtor-news–september-5–2019.html?_cldee”

Luxury Real Estate Sales Declined in Vancouver, But Rise in Toronto

In the first half of 2019, luxury real estate sales flourished in Montreal with property sales jumping over $4 million by triple digits, but continued to decline in Vancouver, a fresh study says.

“Canada’s top-tier real estate markets veered in separate directions,” read a report released Wednesday by Sotheby’s International Realty Canada, which tracked the number of condominiums, townhouses and detached homes sold for over $1 million and $4 million in major Canadian cities.

The agency has previously forecast Montreal as an emerging hot stop set to make new records.
In the first half of 2019, property sales in excess of $1 million jumped five percent relative to the same period last year..

Sales of properties over $4 million soared 267 per cent with 11 properties sold. Three such properties were sold in the first half of 2018.

Experts from the agency observed an rise in global buyers — a group that, according to the study, involves new Canadians, permanent residents, and investors as overseas buyers ‘ taxes in Toronto and Vancouver redirected global buyers to Montreal.However, the group still composes “a small percentage of overall top-tier sales activity” in the city, it said.

Meanwhile, in Vancouver’s formerly heated housing market, luxury property sales continued to drop due to fallout from government intervention.

The market continued to bear the burden of tightened mortgage rules, multiple governmental policies and taxes, and hesitant sellers and fickle buyers lacking motivation to commit to transactions,” the report read.
Homes sold for over $1 million fell 33 per cent to 1,308 properties, while homes sold for more than $4 million fell 34 per cent to 73 homes.

Evolving conditions in Vancouver real estate have created opportunities for prospective top-tier real estate buyers to consider housing options previously out of reach,” the report said, adding some potential buyers who were considering condos priced at more than $1 million have likely now shifted their focus to attached or detached homes instead.

Sales of condos over $1 million fell 51 per cent in the first six months of this year from 708 condos sold between January and June 2018 to 349 in the same six months of 2019.

“The continued adjustment of housing prices is expected to renew interest and activity in the future,” the report noted of Vancouver’s single family homes priced over $1 million.

sources:URL link”https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/luxury-home-sales-on-the-rise-in-toronto-1.4501772″