The Blog

Recently a global survey has ranked Vancouver’s luxury market as the second worse performer in the world and worse in North America. It has fallen 7.6% over the 6 months ending this March. Note they are referring to properties that are 3.5M and over, so it is not a market most of us are looking at. It is true that the overall market is slowing. The sales-to-active listings ratio for all property types (detached homes, townhomes and condos) are all down from last month. Respectively, they are 14.1%, 36.1% and 46.7%. Generally, somewhere between 15% and 20% is considered a balanced market. While the market is slowing the prices have only dropped for detached properties. Detached homes have dropped 0.2% since last month and up

According to the stats released by the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver, the market has slowed down considerably. Home sales in March of 2018 is 29.7% lower than 2017 level and is 23% below the 10-year March sales average. As the market digest the slow down, new listing has decreased as well. Compared to March 2017, new listings decreased 6.6%. The total number of listings have increased 10.5% compared to a year ago and 7.1% compared to last month. This means what is in inventory is taking longer to sell; thus, with lower new listings, the inventory is still growing. A price drop? Maybe, especially for detached homes. The sales-to-active listings ratio by property type is 14.2% for detached homes, 39.9% for townhouses and

The biggest real estate news last month was the Provincial budget announced February 20th. There were many initiatives aimed at the real estate market. The key points that relate to the real estate market are covered below. Many of the details of how these plans will be implemented are not yet available and it will be these details that determine whether these plans are successful. The speculation tax coming in Fall of 2018 is the most controversial. It is going to be at 0.50% in the first year and 2% in 2019 based on the value of property. Only principal residences and long-term rented properties are exempt. The tax applies to homes in Metro Vancouver, the Fraser Valley, the Capital and Nanaimo Regional Districts, Kelowna and West Kelowna. The

The January Metro Vancouver real estate stats has not break from pattern. Continued strength for condos and townhouses, while detached homes are in a more balanced market. Good condo units are getting multiple offers. Faced with the reality of extreme pricing in the lower mainland more and more people are moving in to the Fraser Valley. In fact Maple Ridge and Mission are where the action is at! According to Re/Max the sale-to-active listing ratio for the two weeks ending Feb 2nd for East Vancouver and Burnaby are 7% and 12% respectively; while it is 26% for both Maple Ridge and Mission.   And if you are once again pondering the reasons behind the price movement in the local real estate market, there has been some