Vancouver home sales up 22.5 per cent in October: REBGV
Posted November 4, 2019 2:49 pm.
Last Updated November 4, 2019 2:54 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – The Vancouver real estate market continues to turn the corner after a long slump.
Sales in October surged 22.5 per cent from September to 2,858, which is also 45.4 per cent more than the year-earlier total. An industry group says listings were down 9 per cent month-over-month, helping the sales-to-listings ratio rise to 29 per cent for apartment-style condos.
“With prices edging down over the last year and interest rates remaining low, hopeful home buyers are becoming more active this fall,” according to Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver president Ashley Smith. Sales were 9.8 per cent above the 10-year October average.
The “benchmark” adjusted average price of an apartment condo was down 5.9 per cent from a year earlier but up two tenths of a point from September to $652,500. Single-detached houses were down 7.5 per cent from the previous October to $1.4 million.
Meantime, demand for real estate in the Fraser Valley is strongest it’s been since 2018.
There was an 18.5 per cent increase in sales last month over September sales, and it’s up 37.8 per cent from October 2018.
Darin Germyn, President of the Fraser Valley Real Estate Board, says the market started to pick up in the summer and has been improving since.
“It’s rare to see October home sales in the Fraser Valley outpace April and that’s what we’ve seen this year; our typical spring and fall markets have flipped,” Germyn says in a press release.
“Consumers are feeling more confident. Buyers have grown accustomed to the government’s regulation changes. Interest rates have thankfully remained stable and we’re likely seeing some pent-up demand from buyers who were holding off earlier this year. October’s beautiful, sunny weather didn’t hurt either.”