Week 17 – Weekly Vancouver Real Estate Update

Sales eased in the last week. Falling from 328 to 317. This was the 3rd week out of the last 5 that sales have fallen since hitting an all-time record (373) in Week 13.

New listings backed off a little from their peak of 599 in the previous week to 562 this past week. The result is that overall active listings rose to 3,485 (a high for 2021)…and months-of-inventory edged higher to 2.75 (from 2.55).

It’s clear that the overall market is seeing some easing off of the intensity that was present throughout the record-setting month of March. There are no signs of a correction at this point…it’s simply a normal shift in the market.

Make no mistake, the market remains (overall) a very strong seller’s market. We are seeing natural ebbs and flows from week to week when we look at each micro-market…but it’s the overall market direction that’s most important.

The hottest market in the last week was...

Week 16 – Market Update

Sales held steady from the previous week while overall listings increased. We had 328 sales vs 329 the week before. New listings jumped up to 599 from 550. And overall listings increased to 3,350 from 3,196.

Where does that leave us? Still in a very hot seller’s market. We have an overall months-of-inventory of 2.55 edging just slightly higher from a week before at 2.43.

The hottest area of the city continues to be East Vancouver (for all property types). However, it’s East Van condos (1.52 MOI) and townhouses (1.39 MOI) that are seeing the most demand of any micro-markets in the city.

Downtown Vancouver is seeing a little bit of a lull in demand. Both townhouses (6.38 MOI) and condos (3.29 MOI) saw the most substantial change in their months-of-inventory…but really, that’s mainly due to more listings coming online rather than a significant drop in demand.

…and that’s really a seasonal pattern that we can expect at this...

Week 15 – Market Update

Stability returned to the Vancouver real estate market in the last week.

As you’ll remember, we saw a very quick reversal in the previous week after hitting a record high number of sales. That reversal was very short-lived as we rebounded from 270 sales up to 329 (the 2nd highest number of sales in a week in the last two years).

At the same time new listings also shot up to a record 550. That pushed overall active listings up to 3,196…the highest number so far this year (which is fairly typical as we approach the typical spring listing season).

We moved deeper into an overall seller’s market with 2.43 months-of-inventory in Vancouver. As I suggested, it’s clear now that the weakness last week was related to the Easter long-weekend.

The hottest micro-markets continue to be in East Vancouver (condos, townhouses and houses) but it was Vancouver West condos and townhouses that saw the biggest improvements from the previous week.

Westside...

Week 14 – Market Update

Demand fell SIGNIFICANTLY in the last week.

For the first time in more than a month (5 weeks in fact) we saw a meaningful decline in the number of home sales in Vancouver. We dropped from a record high 373 down to 270 this past week (a 38% decline).

New listings also dropped from a high of 475 to 455. Supply edged higher with 3,071 total active listings (a minor drop of 1% from the previous week).

Overall, the market is still well in a seller’s market (2.84 months-of-inventory). East Vancouver continues to lead the way despite sales edging lower. The hotpoints in the city were East Van condos (1.41 MOI) and townhouses (1.85 MOI).

While almost all micro-markets saw a drop in sales from the week before, it was Westside houses that saw the biggest decline. Sales fell from 47 to 27 pushing that particular market back into a balanced market.

You are likely being inundated with news about just how hot our market is. After all, stats were just released about...

Summary

The key to the last month is SALES (demand) hit an all-time high. If you’ve been following my weekly updates, you’ll already know what the rest of the world is only figuring out now.

All across the Lower Mainland, sales hit an all-time record…and that held true for Vancouver as well. The 1,532 sales in March were 53.2% over the previous month and 101.3% year-over-year (and 45.6% over the 10-yr avg).

Meanhwhile, we also saw a record high of 2,475 new listings hit the market in the last month (42.5% above the 1,737 10-year avg). That was 66% over the previous month and 90.1% year-over-year.

Yet, the immense demand kept overall inventory levels low. Total active listings rose to 2,996 (6% BELOW the 10-yr avg).

A strong local economy, record-low interest rates, demand for space and increased household savings are driving current demand. The result? Prices are seeing immense upward pressure.

Notably, detached house prices are now in the double digits in terms of price...