Week 35 – Market Update
Overview

Summer vacation is most definitely over for Vancouver real estate.

Week 35 continued the torrid pace set by the previous week. Both sales and new listings hit highs for 2020…reaching 227 sales this past week in the City of Vancouver (the previous high was 219 set just prior to the onset of the pandemic).

And while inventory is growing (also reaching a high for the year), the Months of Inventory fell to it’s lowest level of the year (showing that demand outpaced supply this past week).

All market segments are seeing increasing levels of activity. For the most part, there was consistency between last week and this week across the board.

The one area that saw a significant jump in activity levels was Downtown Vancouver apartments. We went from 41 sales in the previous week to 57 this week.

Vancouver West (Westside)

East Vancouver (Eastside)

Downtown Vancouver

Week 34 – Market Update
Overview

Well, THAT took a quick turn.

After we had a dip in sales for the first couple of weeks of August, this past week reversed the trend and took a big jump forward. In fact, this past week saw the second highest sales in a week for the entire year (213 sales this week vs 219 in Week 10 just prior to the pandemic).

Meanwhile, we also saw the highest number of new listings hit the market for the entire year. We reached 424 new listings which is just the second time this year we’ve had more than 400 in a week.

With those numbers, we are seeing annual highs for activity in many market segments. East Vancouver is once again the most active.

After a setback last week, East Vancouver houses regained their crown as the most active with 33 sales and 12 of them over asking price…but East Van townhouses also had a strong performance.

Other areas of strength were seen in Westside houses condos and townhouses…and there was a solid showing for Downtown...

Week 33 – Market Update
Overview

For a second week, sales were subdued and listings increased.

The recovery in activity levels from the lows we saw in April appear to have stalled in July. August so far, has been a more typical summer month. A month where the market takes a breather along with Vancouverites.

Notably this past week, East Van houses did not lead the market. Sales saw a significant drop (from 27 to 21) and listings jumped (from 428 to 451). Sales over the asking price also dropped from 13 to just 5.

Strength continued for Westside houses, though. As well as apartments on the Westside…and not a bad showing for downtown Vancouver apartments either. These segments saw sales hold steady over the last week and listings only rise marginally.

It’s more than likely that the market will continue to drift in the coming weeks. We are in the midst of the last weeks of summer, and it’s very common for people’s focus to turn to vacations and preparations for...

Week 32 – Market Update
Overview

After a brief week of respite, inventory levels generally increased this past week once again. Meanwhile, sales numbers dipped…albeit only slightly.

East Vancouver houses continue to be the market hotspot. Sales dipped here from 31 to 27 but 13 were still over-asking price. Westside houses continue to impress with a solid 22 sales (although only 5 were over-asking). Eastside condos had another strong week with 35 sales (up from 34)….while Westside and Downtown condos had lower sales week over week.

This type of market activity is fairly typical of what we often see in late July and August. Sellers were hoping to take advantage of increased buyer activity. But, those buyers are now less focused on real estate and more on taking advantage of the last bit of summer.

It’s likely that we will continue to see this trend continue until mid-September when most families will be back from holiday and will get refocused on real estate…so...

Summary

July continued the trend of improvement in market activity. The worst month was April and since then each subsequent month has increased activity levels.

Across the board, there were positive improvements over June. Sales were up 19% over the previous month (7% over the previous year). Total listings rose just 9% from the previous month and were down 12% y-o-y. Meanwhile, every housing type saw increases both m-t-m as well as y-o-y.

The weekly stats that I’m following indicate that we might be starting to see the beginning of this positive momentum stall…but that’s not surprising given that we are now at the height of summer and most people are focusing on vacations rather than real estate.

July 2020 - Vancouver Real Estate - Total Active Listings

Parting Thoughts

As I mentioned last month, there is definitely a wide disparity in the market. Certain pockets are seeing enormous amounts of demand while others are languishing.

Of note, the hottest market is East Vancouver...