One-in-three Metro Vancouver adults looking to buy a home in "housing bubble"

Mar 5 2022, 1:46 am

Home prices in Metro Vancouver’s housing market have escalated in the double digit percentages over the past year, as competition amongst buyers for limited supply has been fierce.

Within these challenging market conditions for buyers, a new survey by polling firm Mustel Group, commissioned by real estate marketing agency Rennie, found that 54% of Metro Vancouver adults believe the region is currently in a housing bubble.

Yet the survey also found that 31% of adult residents are either currently looking for, or plan to start looking for, a home over the next six months, with 24% indicating this will be their primary residence, 16% looking for a home for investment purposes, and 9% citing both reasons.

Another 17% are either currently trying to sell or plan to sell a home they own.

Nearly two-thirds (64%) said the most significant challenge in buying or selling a home is affordability, followed by a quarter (24%) stating the lack of available listings.

At the start of 2022, BC saw an all-time record low of 12,179 available home listings, representing a 41% drop over the previous year.

Most respondents were also pessimistic about the future outlook, with 73% expecting mortgage rates to be higher, and 68% expecting home values to be higher. As well, 48% expect it to be a worse time to buy real estate, while 40% also expect it to be a better time to sell real estate.

With the Real Estate Board of Vancouver’s jurisdiction, the benchmark price for detached homes is now $2.04 million, up by 25% from a year ago. The benchmark price for townhomes is $1.09 million, representing a 27% year-over-year jump, while the benchmark price for condominiums is $807,000, representing a 16% increase.

The average days listings were put on the market before they were sold were 24 days for detached homes, 14 days for townhomes, and 19 days for condominiums.

Kenneth ChanKenneth Chan

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