Metro Vancouver inventory levels reach lows amid 2021 record-breaking home sales
Posted December 11, 2021 2:20 pm.
Last Updated December 11, 2021 2:28 pm.
The latest economic analysis of Metro Vancouver’s real estate says the market demand has heightened in 2021, but the supply has decreased.
Economist Keith Stewart of the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver expects inventory levels to reach lows that haven’t been seen in years.
“It’s been incredibly busy, and it’s not unusual when things get so busy for so long the inventory gets drawn down… everything that’s coming to market is successfully selling, inventories are not replenishing, and we just keep getting pulled and pulled down,” said Stewart.
Stewart tells CityNews he worries when active listings go below 10,000, so he is concerned because Metro Vancouver has about 7,000 at the moment.
“Healthier would be at least 12 (thousand), if not 15,000 active listings … to have more stability in prices,” he said. “There’s no secret here. Why is there very little for sale? It’s because pretty much everything has been selling and selling very rapidly.”
Stewart says with more homes being built, it will help with moderating the house prices, but big surges like these have to run their course.
“We can double, triple construction in any particular year,” he said. “And that will help with prices and increasing our housing stock and moderate house prices going forward. But when we get these build-ups and these big surges in buyers demand, it kind of has to run its course.”
He says prices will escalate to a degree where people get squeezed out of buying, which will normalize the market going forward.
– With files from Paul James
