The story this week returns to a recurring theme; a lack of inventory.

Sales rose sharply to 269 (from 224). We'd been flirting with numbers at the lower end of the 200s. This is just the second time we've had sales this high in the last 3 months.

New listings fel to 253 (from 307). That's the lowest number of new listings we've had in the last 3 months...and it's likely a number that we'll see continue to drop in the coming weeks as the holidays approach.

Total active listings fell to 3,064 (from 3,175). That's the lowest we've had supply since way back in mid-March of this year.

With demand rising, and suppply dropping we movd further into a seller's market. Months-of-inventory dropped to 2.85 from 3.54.

East Vancouver remains the hot-point of our market. This week, it was led by East Van townhouses with just 1.54 MOI. Followed closely by EV condos (2.1 MOI) and EV houses (2.51 MOI).

The sharpest move was made downtown. The downtown condo market wasn't the strongest market, but it did...

For the most part, the last week was a week of stability. Little changed from the previous week.

Sales edged higher to 224 (from 218). New listings jumped to 307 (from 279)...but total active listings fell slightly to 3,175 from 3,206.

Overall, the market tightened up a little bit. Moving slightly further into a seller's market with 3.54 MOI (from 3.68).

The hottest sub-market changed hands in the last week. East Van townhouses recaptured that title with a big uptick in sales (21 from 11) and 1.89 MOI. The only other sub-market with a MOI below 3 was East Van condos with 2.12.

East Van houses had the sharpest improvement. Sales more than duoubled from 15 to 32 pushing the MOI down to 3.09. As suspected, last week's numbers were just anomaly for this sub-markets it returned to it's regular torrid pace.

There was no change to the weakest sub-market. Westside houses continue to dominate that space. This week sales fell slightly to 23 (from 25) with a 6.89 MOI...and the only buyer's market in...

Both sales and new listings dipped this past week. Is it the start of the holiday season, or just a one-off? That's the question.

In the last six weeks, the sales numbers have been strong. However, one strong week has typically been followed by a weak week. This week may just be a continuation of that pattern...maybe.

Whatever the case, the sales number is still strong for this time of year (218 vs 240 in the previous week). We remain over the 200 sale threshold (where we've remained for the last 2.5 months).

New listings dropped dramatically from 352 to just 279. It looks like that number last week may have just been a flash in the pan. It's likely that we will see the new listing number continue to dwindle into the coming weeks.

Interestingly, total active listings rose (from 3,159 to 3,206). That's the first rise in listings in the last two months...although it wasn't significant, it is notable.

Our market remains in a seller's market with 3.68 months of inventory (up from 3.29). Condos...

October saw recent trends continue...going against what we often see at this time of year. Demand continued to rise, while supply shrank, further pressuring prices.

The real story here is demand. It's been unusually high all year (remember those record setting months in the spring?). While we are no longer setting records, the numbers remain unseasonably high.

October had 986 sales. That was about 5% over last month and over last year. But it was an astoishing 22% over the 10-year average.

Meanwhile, supply has been shrkinking.

In October there were 1,446 new listings. That was down 22% from the month before as well as the previous year. It was SLIGHTLY over the 10-year average (+2%).

Total active listings fll to 3,423. 10% lower than September and 22% below the previous year. It was also 8% below the 10-year average.

That combination means that there's continued upward pressure on prices throughout the city. The one exception is Westside houses (-1.3% month-to-month)...which makes sense...

Our recent trend continued in the last week of Vancouver real estate. Demand was strong and supply continued to shrink.

Sales did drop from 267 to 231. However, we remain well above the 200 mark...as we have now for the seventh straight week.

New listings, meanwhile, continue to trend lower. There were 302 new listings in the last week which was down from 321. Total listings also dropped to 3,255 from 3,384. That's the lowest number of active listings we've had since mid-August.

Overall, our market is in a seller's market with 3.52 MOI (up from 3.17 MOI in the previous week). All sub-markets EXCEPT westside houses found themselves still in a seller's market.

The westside house market is the only sub-market in buyer's market territory. This past week it was 6.32 MOI (up from 4.86). East Vancouver townhouses (1.63 MOI) and condos (2.14 MOI) were the hottest.

This remains a "hot" market with seller's mostly in control. The most activity continues to be in the more "affordable" price segments...and...