Metro Vancouver home sales fall more than 32% in September

Home sales in Metro Vancouver continued to dip for the month of September as they went under the 10-year monthly sales average for the first time since May of 2014, according to the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver.

Sales totalled 2,253 for the Metro area last month, which is a year-over-year decrease of 32.6% from the more than 3,300 sales recorded in September 2015. They were also nearly 10% below the 10-year sales average.

Listings, however, were nearly on-par with last year. For September 2016, listings topped out at 4,799, down only 1% from 4,846 units at the same time last year.

From August to September of this year, there was a nearly 12% increase in listings.

REBGV president Dan Morrison says this points to uncertainty in the marketplace.

“Changing market conditions are easing upward pressure on home prices in our region,” Morrison says in a release.

See also

• Home sales to foreign buyers in Metro Vancouver down to 0.9%, says province

In spite of slowing home sales, the benchmark price for homes of all types in the Metro area remained stable.

According to REGBV the benchmark price for a property in Vancouver stood at $931,900 in September, a year-on-year increase of 28.9% and a 0.1% decrease from August 2016.

Sales of detached homes were nearly cut in half since last year, but the average price increased 33.7%.

While the REBGV doesn’t point to a specific reason for the decline in sales, it’s possible it might be related to the recently introduced foreign buyers tax. Home sales to foreign buyers decreased to less than 1% for the month of August, compared to 13.2% between June 10 and August 1.

That also represented a decrease in money invested by foreign buyers from more than $2.1 billion, down to just $17.1 million.