Week 5 – Market Update

Rising demand drove the Vancouver real estate market in the last week.

Sales more than doubled across the city since the beginning of the year. Going from 105 in Week 1 to 219 last week.

It’s normal for demand to ramp up at this time of year, but not this quickly. This level of demand is more typical of early-March than late-January.

Meanwhile, supply (the number of listings) is increasing but only slowly. The number of active listings has increased by less than 10% since the beginning of the year (from 2,517 to 2,734).

The result? We’ve entered a seller’s market with 3.82 month-of-inventory. The hottest seller’s markets in the last week were East Van houses (the previous week’s softness was indeed temporary) and condos as well as Westside condos (with an honorable mention to an increasingly active Downtown condo market).

Slower pockets across the city would include Downtown townhouses (where there have been no sales in the last...

Week 4 – Market Update

One month into 2021 and our real estate market continues to increase in activity. We are seeing that activity rise on all fronts including sales, new listings and total active listings.

So far, demand is outpacing supply. This is demonstrated by the months-of-inventory dropping in every consecutive week. This past week we find ourselves hovering at 4.1 months-of-inventory which is just at the edge of a seller’s market.

The hottest micro-market in the past week was East Vancouver townhouses. Sales jumped from 7 in the previous week to 23 last week (sales for this micro-market only reached >20 3 times in 2020).

Downtown apartments also continue to see increasing levels of activity. Both sales and new listings are indicating that buyers are returning to this market that was hardest hit by the pandemic. So far, it looks as though bargain hunters are the dominant buyers…but it looks as though this micro-market is one to watch.

East Vancouver houses...

Week 3 – Market Update

The last week was another of incremental increases in activity. We saw upticks on all fronts including sales (130 from 125), new listings (331 from 288) and active listings (2,672 from 2,588.

The market remains in balanced territory for most micro-markets. Months of inventory is hovering just over 5 for both townhouses and apartments. However, houses are tipping slightly into a seller’s market.

It’s the East Vancouver side that’s carrying the load, though. East Van houses are once again the hottest micro-market (

Downtown Vancouver is also seeing signs of increased activity. While condos are still well in a buyer’s market, it’s held up well over the last few weeks. Some optimism appears to be returning in this market that has been hardest hit by the pandemic.

It should also be noted that downtown townhouses had their best week in the last year…with 4 sales and just 38 active listings. That’s a strong seller’s market,...

Week 2 – Market Update

We had an overall (marginal) increase in activity in the last week. Sales climbed from 105 to 125 and listings went from 2,517 to 2,588. These are both low numbers, but to be expected at this time of year.

The one number that saw a significant increase was of new listings. These hit 288 in the last week which is a number we haven’t seen since the first week of November, 2020 (Week 45).

That level of new listings is pretty significant for so early in the year…but it’s notable that total active listings hardly increased (meaning we likely saw a higher than normal number of listings get removed from the MLS last week).

The only micro-market that showed strength last week was East Vancouver Houses where we had 24 sales, 9 of which sold over their asking price. Those numbers are pretty astounding given how quiet much of the rest of the city was.

If you are thinking of selling a house, these numbers indicate that there’s absolutely no reason...

Summary

An unusual year ended up being capped by an unusual December.

The month of December 2020 saw an unusually high level of sales. The 872 sales that took place was 46% over the 10 year average for the month (+0.1% month-to-month) …and the highest amount ever recorded.

There were 672 new listings in the month which was also well above normal for the month. In fact, it was 37.5% higher than the 10 year average. While total active listings of 2704 was just 5.2% over the 10 year average for the month.

In the grand scheme, this meant we had elevated demand with lower levels of supply. This was especially true for East Vancouver where all housing types were well within a seller’s market. On the Westside, houses and townhouses were both in balanced territory with only apartments in a seller’s market.

What this means is that as a buyer, you will likely be facing strong competition as you move forward. You will need to act quickly and decisively in order to secure the best...