Greater Vancouver real estate sales dropped almost 27% in July

Residential property sales in Greater Vancouver suffered a huge drop in July, according to new figures from the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver.

The REBGV reports that 3,226 homes were sold in July, compared with 4,400 homes in June – a drop of 26.7% in one month.

Although summer is traditionally thought to be a slow time for home sales, the figures are also 18.9% down from July last year, when 3,978 homes were sold.

“After several months of record-breaking sales activity, home buyer demand returned to more historically normal levels in July,” Dan Morrison, REBGV president, said in a release.

“We’ll wait and watch over the next few months to see if this marks the return of more normal market trends.”

Estimated sale price still skyrocketing

Having said that, the REBGV say July homes sales were still 6.5% above the 10-year sales average for that month.

And the REBGV’s benchmark cost – or estimated sale price – of a typical home in the region rose to $930,400, up 32.6% from this time last year.

If you break it down by type of home, that estimated sale price now stands at:

• $1,578,300 for a detached home (38% increase on this time last year)
• $669,000 for a townhouse (29.4% increase on this time last year)
• $510,600 for an apartment (27.4% increase on this time last year)

It remains to be seen whether the recent extra 15% property transfer tax imposed on foreign buyers in Metro Vancouver will have any effect on home sales. Here’s hoping.