Metro Vancouver housing market remains just as competitive as before the pandemic: report

Even though home sales and new listings in Metro Vancouver went down drastically in May, competition remained at similar levels at the same time last year.

A recent report by Zoocasa calculated sales-to-new-listings ratio (SNLR) for 20 major real estate markets across Canada and found that 40% to 60% indicated that demand and supply were balanced during the period covered.

When looking at Metro Vancouver, homes sales dropped by 44% year-over-year to 1,506, and new listings declined 37% with 3,784 homes being listed.

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Although both home sales and listings declined at similar rates, there was a greater reduction in home sales, indicating that market conditions are moving towards a buyer’s market.

Despite this movement, however, Zoocasa says that Metro Vancouver’s housing market remains fairly balanced. The area’s SNLR for May 2020 was 40%, compared to the 44% during the same period last year.

Of the 20 markets studied, eight markets exhibited an SNLR lower than the national average, meaning competition conditions in these markets slightly favoured home buyers compared to the national average — Metro Vancouver came in third place.

Zoocasa

However, of these eight markets, just two could be categorized as “buyers’ markets,” while the rest remain in “balanced market” territory.

In Edmonton, Alberta, sales dropped 40% year-over-year and new listings declined 21%, resulting in an SNLR of 38%. This figure represents a departure from conditions last May, when the Edmonton housing market was “comfortably balanced” at 49%.

Similarly, the SNLR in Fraser Valley, BC, dropped from 44% last year to 38% this year, signifying a similar shift from balanced to buyer’s market conditions in that region.

According to the report, as COVID-19 restrictions ease in some regions and market activity slowly ramps up, it may be helpful for home buyers to get a read on how competitive housing activity is in their area.

For example, in regions where sales and new listings declined at a similar pace, buyers may find that despite substantially lower sales and inventory, the housing market may feel just as competitive as last year.