Vancouver home sales saw a drop in numbers last month

Mar 3 2018, 8:11 am

When it comes to Vancouver home sales for the month of February, it seems the weather wasn’t the only thing that cooled off a little bit.

According to the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver’s (REBGV) latest report, residential property sales in the region totalled 2,207 last month.

This is a 9% decrease in numbers compared to the same time period last year and 14% below the 10-year- February sales average.

Broken down by property type, detached sales were down 39.4% over the same period, attached sales were down 6.8%.

Apartment sales however, were 5.5% above the 10-year February average.

“Rising interest rates and stricter mortgage requirements have reduced home buyers’ purchasing power, particularly for those at the entry level of our market,” said REBGV President Jill Oudil.

Even still, she added, “the supply of apartment and townhome properties for sale today is unable to meet demand. On the other hand, our detached home market is beginning to enter buyers’ market territory.”

Despite the drop, February’s numbers were still a a 21% increase over the number of homes that were sold in January of this year.

Homes for sale increase

While sales may have slowed, There were 4,223 newly listed detached, attached, and apartment properties for sale on the Multiple Listing Service in Metro Vancouver in February.

This is a 15.2% cent increase compared to the 3,666 homes listed in February 2017 and an 11.2% increase compared to January 2018 when 3,796 homes were put on the market.

The total number of homes currently for sale on the MLS system in Metro Vancouver is 7,822, a 3% increase compared to February 2017 (7,594) and a 12.6% increase compared to January 2018 (6,947).

“The spring is traditionally the busiest time for home buyers and sellers in our market,” said Oudil. “We’ll wait to see how they react to the taxes and other policy measures that our provincial and federal governments have introduced so far this year.”

The MLS Home Price Index composite benchmark price for all residential properties in Metro Vancouver is currently $1,071,800.

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