The Blog

The BC government have raised the threshold for the homeowner grant. Now property under 1.975 million will continue to get the home owner grant. This means 92% of residential properties are covered. Click the image link below to apply. Those who own and live in their homes in Metro Vancouver, the Fraser Valley and Capital Regional districts are eligible for the $570 basic grant, or up to $845 for those with a disability or who are 65 and older. The basic grant for those in northern and rural areas is $770, or $1,045 for those who are disabled or over 65.

There were a few articles that made their rounds last month regarding housing affordability. The one that caught the most attention was the news about an idea that a West Coast think tank came up with: Tax homeowners on any value of their property over 1 million dollars. That would affect everyone with a house in Vancouver. Not to worry yet. Even though this think tank was hired by the government, there is no indication that they are seriously considering this idea. Perplexing that taxing seems to be the go-to solution for everything. But are people sitting on one million dollar homes driving up the price of real estate? In the same month, Better Dwelling delved into Statistics Canada data in regards to foreign ownership

Though sales activity in Metro Vancouver has slowed in January compared to December, the volume is still 25.3% above the 10-year average. Inventory continues to be extremely low which is why prices continue to increase. The total number of listed homes is 31.8% lower than last January and an 8.2% increase compared to December 2021. Though the sales-to-active listings ratio has dropped in January, prices continue to go up. Typically ratios above 20% over several months will have an upward pressure on price. For detached homes, the ratio is 28% and the monthly price increase is 2.2%. Annually it is up 22.7%. For apartments the ratio is 49.7% and the monthly price increase is 1.8%. Up 14% from January 2021. For attached homes, the ratio

Real estate in Metro Vancouver in November followed the same template as the last few months. Activities high, inventory low. Home sales in November were 11.9% higher than last November and 33.6% above the 10-year November sales average. The total number of homes listed was 35.7% lower than last November. This high demand with lower supply made sure the price of real estate kept increasing. For detached homes, the benchmark price went up 1.1% compared to last month and 20.8% compared to last November. The apartment benchmark price was up 0.9% over last month and up 11.4% over last November. For attached homes benchmark price was up 1.6% over last month and 20.2% over last November. The provincial government is looking to introduce a cooling off

October was another strong month for Vancouver real estate. The month’s sales were 22.4% above the 10-year October average. Along with decreasing inventory, the pricing pressure has been increasing. This is reflected in the higher sales-to-active listings ratio across all categories. A ratio above 20% for an extended period of time is expected to result in price increases. For detached properties the sales-to-active listings ratio for October is 33.6%. For townhomes it is 64.4% and 46.7% for apartments. Price increased across all categories. For the month of October, the benchmark price for a detached home went up 1.2%. The same for townhomes and 1.1% for apartments. As the price increases continue, it is getting harder and harder for first-time home buyers to enter the market.

It is no big surprise that mom and dad have been helping their children get into their first home in the lower mainland. And as the price of property continue to increase, the demand is greater than ever. What is surprising is how hard it is to get good data on this. CIBC released a report last month on gifted down payments. It summarized their data from 2015 to 2021. In it they state that in Vancouver, around 12% of the first-time home buyers got help to buy their first home  in 2015 and by 2021 this has gone up to around 23% The BC Notary Association did their own survey in 2015 and 2019 to measure the extent of this help and the results

Housing sales in September were 20.8% above the 10-year average while the new listings were 1.2% below the 10-year average. And the total number of homes listed is 27.7% below the 10-year average. The above average sales matched up with the below average inventory means upward pricing pressure. A measure of this supply and demand dynamic is the sales-to-active listings ratio. Extended periods over 20% typically means an increase in prices. For detached homes, this ratio is 25.5% and the price increased 1.2% over the last month. For townhomes the ratio is 53.1% and the price also increased by 1.2% over the last month. For apartments, the ratio is 36.7% and the price increased by 0.5% over the last month. A Re/Max’s recent report estimates