Number of BC homes sold in July 2022 plummet by 42%

Aerial of Metro Vancouver, with Richmond and Steveston in the foreground. (Josef Hanus/Shutterstock)

There is no question that the housing market in British Columbia is slowing down, with data for July 2022’s performance showing a 42.4% decrease in the number of homes sold province-wide.

The total sales dollar volume also dropped by a staggering 40.3% to $5.1 billion compared to the same month last year, but the average listed home price saw a relatively modest decline of 3.6% to $923,449 over the same period.

This year to date, BC home sales dollar volume is down 20% to $58.7 billion, compared to the first seven months of 2021. The number of home sales is down by 29.3% to 56,801 units, while the average listed home price is up 13.2% to $1.03 million.

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BC Real Estate Association (BCREA) chief economist Brendon Ogmundson puts the slowdown squarely on the Bank of Canada’s interventionist measure of consecutively hiking interest rates to damper both consumer inflation and the housing market.

“Many regions around the province have seen sales slip to levels well below normal for this time of year,” he said.

While there was an extreme inventory/listing shortage a year ago, active listings are now 23% higher, but BCREA deems existing levels to be still considered technically “quite low.” The combined pace of sluggish sales and depressed inventory levels has sent some markets into balanced or even buyers’ market conditions.

The number of home sales within the jurisdiction of the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver has fallen by 43.6% from 3,375 units in July 2021 to 1,904 units in July 2022.

Fraser Valley Real Estate Board’s jurisdiction, which includes the Metro Vancouver sub-markets of Surrey, Delta, White Rock, and Langley, saw a greater drop of 50.6% from 1,914 units in July 2021 to 946 units in July 2022.

The biggest year-over-year decrease in BC was recorded in the small market of the Chilliwack Real Estate Board, where home sales fell by 57% to 133 units.

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