Metro Vancouver March real estate sales down from last year

It looks like Spring has sprung everywhere but in Metro Vancouver’s real estate market.

According to the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV) there was only a small increase in home sales in March compared with February, but overall sales are down compared with the same time last year.

“Home prices across Metro Vancouver’s housing market showed modest increases in March, while new listings remained below long-term historical averages,” the association says in a news release.

It says residential home sales were down 42.5 per cent in March compared with the same month last year, and more than 28 per cent lower than the 10-year seasonal average.

The cost of buying a house in Metro Vancouver has come up by 2.8 per cent since February of this year, the REBGV notes, adding that this is based on the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) Home Price Index.

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However, it says the current benchmark price of $1,143,900, is actually down from March 2022 by 9.5 per cent.

“On the pricing side, the spring market is already on track to outpace our 2023 forecast, which anticipated modest price increases of about one to two per cent across all product types,” Andrew Lis, REBGV’s director of economics and data analytics said in a news release.

“The surprising part of this recent activity is that these price increases are occurring against a backdrop of elevated borrowing costs, below-average sales, and new listing activity that continues to suggest that sellers are awaiting more favorable market conditions.”

According to the association, there was a 35.5 per cent decrease in the amount of newly listed detached, attached, and apartment properties listed in March compared with the amount for sale the same month of the previous year.

But as for home listings, the REBGV says that number is actually up by more than 8 per cent compared with the same time last year.

“Across all detached, attached and apartment property types, the sales-to-active listings ratio for March 2023 is 30.7 per cent. By property type, the ratio is 23.3 per cent for detached homes, 36.7 per cent for townhomes, and 34.9 per cent for apartments,” the release reads.

For detached homes, apartment homes, and attached homes all saw a significant change when compared with March of last year.

Detached homes saw a 43.6 per cent decrease in sales, apartment homes saw a 43.2 per cent decrease, and attached homes saw a 37.3 decrease in March compared with the same month of the previous year, the release notes.

Lis says the number of homes for sale impacts the number of places that will sell.

“If home sellers remain on the sidelines, monthly MLS® sales figures will continue to appear lower than historical averages as we move toward summer,” he explained.

“But it’s important to recognize the chicken-and-egg nature of these statistics. The number of sales in any given month is partially determined by the number of homes that come to market that month, along with the inventory of unsold homes listed in previous months. With fewer homes coming on the market, homes sales will remain lower than we’re accustomed to seeing at this point in the year, almost entirely by definition.”