Week 48 – Market Update

This past week, things returned to normal.

We had a shocking jump in sales in the previous week, that didn’t follow through. That’s no surprise…as things returned to a more typical seasonal pattern as we edge closer to the holidays.

And yet, sales remained over the 200 mark (dropping from 231 to 204). We also saw a sharper drop in New Listings from 273 to 213 and Total Active Listings from 3,890 to 3,792.

Overall the market remains balanced…ever so slightly edging towards a Seller’s Market with Months of Supply sitting at 4.63.

We saw most micro-markets slow in lock-step…but one where sales didn’t fall was the Downtown Condo market. where bargain hunters found some success.

We should continue to see both demand and supply shrink in the coming weeks. But, there are opportunities right now for both buyers and sellers if you are patient.

Vancouver West (Westside)

East Vancouver (Eastside)

Downtown Vancouver

Week 47 – Market Update

Well…this is interesting.

New listings and total active listings continued to fall this past week. That was expected and in line with the trend of the last few weeks.

What deviated from the trend was the number of sales. After three straight weeks of declining numbers, I was lulled into the certainty of our annual pattern. And then….we had a huge week for sales jumping from 183 in the previous week to 231 this past week.

A number of micro-markets had sales at or close to highs for the year. It was a dramatic turn from the previous week for many. The hottest micro-markets were East Van/Westside condos as well as East Van/Westside houses…while Westside townhouses was the only one to really have a bad week.

So…will this continue? I believe not.

I suspect that the strength in the last week was likely due to some delayed demand from previous weeks. While buyers may still WANT to purchase in the coming weeks, they won’t be able to....

Week 46 – Market Update

The market continued to cool off in the past week. For the 4th week out of the last 5, sales fell…but only slightly. This past week sales dropped to 183 from 189. Meanwhile, active listings also fell to 4,022 from 4,068.

The biggest change was that New Listings dropped significantly from 361 to 285. New Listings were dropping for the last six weeks or so, but we saw a bump up in those numbers in the previous week. That last week appears to have been an anomoly and the seasonal trend continued.

Overall, the market has been bouncing between the low end of a balanced market to the high end. This past week we find ourselves closer to a buyer’s market…pushed there primarily by weakness in the downtown condo market. Townhouses are once again in a seller’s market, while East Vancouver houses had another strong week.

Once again, it bears repeating that this “slowing” of the market is normal for this time of year. It’s a seasonal...

Week 45 – Market Update

The last week we saw further overall easing in the Vancouver real estate market. Sales slipped for the second week in a row (to 189 from 210) – and third of the last four. Overall listings rose very slightly (from 4,059 to 4,068…surprisingly new listings increased for the first time in the last month (to 361 from 327).

Once again the townhouse market led the strength. For the last three weeks it was well in Seller’s Market territory and that continued this week with Months of Supply at 3.68. East Vancouver Houses and Apartments were also areas of strength while Downtown Vancouver Apartments continued to lag.

It’s looking very much as though the market is cooling off as we head into the winter. As I’ve mentioned in recent weeks, this is VERY normal for this time of year. However, the significant bump in New Listings goes against this trend…it’s something that I’ll be watching in the coming weeks.

Vancouver West...

Summary

October in Vancouver was a little less robust than September. And yet it was still a strong month in terms of market activity.

Sales fell -4.2% from 978 last month to 937 in October (this was +14% year-over-year). But this was still nearly 16% over the 10 year average for the month.

It appears as though we likely saw the top for total listing inventory for the year. Both New Listings (-13.3%) coming onto the market as well as Active Listings (-4.2%) fell in comparison to September.

The hottest market remained East Vancouver…for all housing types. All three are seeing a Seller’s Market (although my weekly analysis is showing this has been weakening a bit as the month of October came to an end).

Westside all housing types are in a Balanced Market. The hottest being houses (particularly the lower end) and the slowest being apartment condominiums.

We are continuing to see the impact of the pandemic on the housing market. The public is prioritizing housing over proximity...