10% drop in number of Metro Vancouver home sales in 2023
The final tallies are in: Metro Vancouver saw a 10.3% year-over-year decrease in home sales, with 26,249 sales recorded in 2023 — down from 29,261 sales in 2022.
This is also down by 41% compared to 2021’s heated market conditions when 44,884 sales were recorded, according to the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV).
Furthermore, 2023’s sales total was 23.4% below the 10-year annual sales average.
The conditions for 2023 were of course driven by high borrowing costs.
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“You could miss it by just looking at the year-end totals, but 2023 was a strong year for the Metro Vancouver housing market considering that mortgage rates were the highest they’ve been in over a decade,” said Andrew Lis, director of economics and data analytics for REBGV, in a statement.
REBGV’s jurisdiction covers Vancouver, Burnaby, New Westminster, Richmond, Pitt Meadows, Sunshine Coast, Whistler, and all of the Tri-Cities and North Shore. Other areas such as Surrey, Langley, Delta, and White Rock are part of the Fraser Valley Real Estate Board.
The number of properties listed in Metro Vancouver in 2023 reached 50,893, representing a 7.5% drop from the 55,047 properties listed in 2022, and a 20.2% decrease from the 63,761 properties listed in 2021. The listings total for 2023 is also 10.5% below the 10-year annual average.
As of the end of December 2023, there were 8,802 homes listed for sale, which is a 13% increase from the same month in 2022.
Although there were fewer home sales, the trend of increased home prices continued across all home types.
The benchmark price for all homes is now $1.169 million, representing a 5% increase from December 2022, and a 1.4% decrease from November 2023.
“Ultimately, the story of 2023 is one of too few homes available relative to the pool of willing and qualified buyers,” continued Lis. “Sellers were reluctant to list their properties early in the year, which led to fewer sales than usual coming out of the gate. But this also led to near record-low inventory levels in the spring, which put upward pressure on prices as buyers competed for the scarce few homes available.”
Lis suggests there is now growing consensus amongst analysts that the Bank of Canada could slightly cut its policy interest rate sometime in the first half of 2024, which should lead to lower borrowing costs.
As for December 2023’s performance, there were 1,345 home sales recorded for the month, representing a 3.2% increase from December 2022, but a 36.4% decrease from the 10-year seasonal average. A total of 1,327 homes of all types were newly listed for sale in December 2023, which is a 10% increase from December 2022, but 22.7% below the 10-year seasonal average.
December 2023 home sales statistics: REBGV
- Detached homes
- Number of units sold: 376 (+1.3% over December 2022)
- Active listings: 3,394
- Benchmark price: $1,964,400 (+7.7% over December 2022; -0.9% over November 2023)
- Average days on the market: 45
- Apartments
- Number of units sold: 719 (+2.4% over December 2022)
- Active listings: 3,663
- Benchmark price: $751,300 (+5.6% over December 2022; -1.5% over November 2023)
- Average days on the market: 35
- Townhomes
- Number of units sold: 238 (+7.2% over December 2022)
- Active listings: 1,271
- Benchmark price: $1,072,700 (+6.4% over December 2022; -1.8% over November 2023)
- Average days on the market: 34
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