More homes sold in Metro Vancouver compared to July 2012
Posted August 14, 2013 12:59 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – It looks like BC’s real estate market is gaining strength. The latest numbers from the BC Real Estate Association show sales in July were much higher compared to the same month last year.
Also, sales have increased in each of the last six months.
“After six consecutive months of rising consumer demand, it’s now clear that BC housing markets are recovering from tighter lending regulations introduced last year,” says Cameron Muir with the BC Real Estate Association.
In the last month, 7,650 sales were recorded in BC, an increase of 18 per cent, and the dollar value was up by nearly a third compared to July of 2012.
But sales are nowhere near the levels we saw in Metro Vancouver and across BC before the recession.
“We’re still kind of in the middle of the pack, as it where, in terms of overall sales volume,” adds Muir. “I think if we look at overall demand, we’re coming up to our 10 year average in sales levels.”
Year-to-date, BC residential sales dollar volume was down 2.8 per cent to $22.9 billion, compared to the same period last year. Residential unit sales were down 4 per cent to 42,986 units, while the average MLS® residential price was up 1.3 per cent at $531,928.
“Because the economy is still kind of moving in fits and starts, and is not firing on all cylinders, we certainly don’t expect to see any record numbers on the sales side in real estate in British Columbia,” Muir explains.
He says BCREA expects home prices to continue a ‘modest upward trend’ and says ‘prices are unlikely to really move much from where they are today, maybe raising around the rate of inflation.”
Muir calls the market balanced, saying there appears to be enough sellers waiting in the wings to match the increasing number of buyers who appear to be jumping into the market.
In recent months there have been numerous reports questioning the health of the housing market across Canada, but Muir is not worried.
“There are a few housing ‘bears’ in Canada that have for a number of years have decried home prices are unaffordable and have to fall dramatically. Certainly, the stats don’t bare that out,” he says
“We’re at the bottom of a 25-year decline in mortgage interest rates, so our home price-to-income ratios have to be higher than the long-term average as a result of that.”
