Weekly Vancouver Real Estate Update - Week 23

What's to know about the last week in Vancouver real estate (Week 23 - May 29th - June 5th, 2021)?

Overall, activity levels increased....as we predicted. Once the May long weekend impact receded, market activity returned.

Sales were up for just the SECOND time in the last TWO months!?!?!?! Sounds crazy for the "hot" market that we've found ourselves in, but it's true!

Sales went from 239 in the previous week to 282 this week.

New listings rose from 433 to 488. That was the first time in a month that new listings increased.

Our listing inventory edged higher (barely) from 3,887 to 3,893 and that meant that our months-of-inventory fell to 3.45.

That's significant in that the previous week we'd found ourselves in a balanced market for the first time since mid-January. It was short-lived as we returned quickly to a seller's market.

The hottest micro-market was East Van condos. After a couple of slower weeks, that market bounced back to a MOI of just...

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Moderation was the key for the month of May.

After setting records for activity in the months of March and April, our market eased this past month. Specifically, both Sales and New Listings came off their record-setting pace.

Make no mistake, we are still (predominantly) in a sellers market. The 1,209 sales in Vancouver last month are still over 20% above our 10-year average for the month. Yet, it was an 8.4% decline from the previous month.

The 2,320 new listings that came onto the market are nearly 28% higher than the 10-year average. However, that's 9% lower than the number of new listings that came on the market in April.

The result is that total active listings reached 3,962. That's 7.5% over the 10-year average and about the same amount (8%) over last month. 

Most micro-markets in Vancouver still find themselves in a very heated seller's market. Competition for desirable listings is high and sales over and above the asking price are still common.

That reality is playing out...

Weekly Vancouver Real Estate Update - Week 22

The last week saw a significant drop (once again) in all types of market activity.

Sales fell to 239 for the City of Vancouver (down from 295).  That's the lowest number of sales that we've seen since way back in mid-February (Week 8).

At the same time, new listings also fell to 433 from 497. That's the lowest number of new listings since Week 9 (late-February) when there were 381 new listings.

I believe that we are seeing the impact of the long weekend. The first significant long weekend as restrictions ease, the world opens up and the weather improves. As I noted last week, it's really typical we see an impact on activity for the week leading into and following a significant long weekend.

This rings true as the micro-markets that are most family-oriented were the hardest hit. Activity dropped the most for houses throughout the city, less so for townhouses and had no real impact on condos.

Westside houses are the weakest segment of the...

Weekly Vancouver Real Estate Update - Week 20

Weekly Vancouver Real Estate Update - Week 19

Sales (demand) remains high but it’s eased off a bit. Overall sales reached 299 in Vancouver this past week. That’s the first time we dropped below 300 sales in a week in the last 5 weeks (since 270 back in Week 14).

New Listings continue to come on strong. They edged higher from 563 to 578 in the past week. We’ve been flirting with 600 for the last month but have yet to hit that number.

Total active listings continued to rise going from 3,571 to 3,721. That now puts us at an overall Months-of-Inventory of 3.11…still a very hot seller’s market. But, the trend in recent weeks is moving us towards more of a balanced market.

The hottest micro-market remains East Vancouver condos. That market has a white-hot MOI of 1.67. Westside Townhouses/Duplexes also remain strong with 2.48 MOI.

East Van Townhouses/Duplexes saw the biggest decline in activity. Sales fell from 20 to 13, the lowest number of sales since late-January....

Week 18 – Weekly Vancouver Real Estate Update

Overall, the market remained in a strong seller’s market. We edged slightly lower in sales (from 317 to 313) and essentially flat in new listings (563 from 562 the previous week). Total active listings hit 3,571…and we find ourselves with 2.85 months-of-inventory.

It’s evident that there have been some pockets of relative weakness in our market. Specifically, westside houses are the only sub-market now in balanced territory (4.78 MOI). That’s mainly due to heightened levels of listings coming onto the market in the last six weeks…sales remain elevated.

At the same time, there are quite a few micro-markets that remain extremely hot. It’ll surprise no one that East Vancouver townhouses (1.91 MOI with 70% selling over asking price) and condos (1.57 MOI) continue to be the hotpoints in Vancouver.

There has been a lot of talk about a slowdown in our market in the last couple of weeks. I think it’s...

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...