January 2022 was an unusually active month in the Vancouver real estate market.

In a typical year, January is usually the slowest time. It's when we see the nadir of annual activity...and most years realtors take the opportunity to schedule their holidays in the month for that very reason.

As you probably know by now, the world is far from typical...and that has played havoc with all types of things, not the least of which is real estate.

There were 702 Sales (-7.99% Month-to-Month and +8.22% Year-to-Year). That's a whopping +34.5% higher than the 10-year average.

New Listings wer 1,461 (+138.24% M-to-M and +5.87% Y-to-Y)...down -7.7% from the 10-year average...and Total Active Listings were just 2,492 (-11.9 from the 10-year average).

The greatest activity is currently in condos and townhouses. Specifically, in East Vancouver but all across the city. Detached homes are lagging those markets...especially at the higher end of the market.

Generally speaking, the most active segments are the...

There was yet another bump up in activity levels in the last week of the Vancouver real estate market (Week 5 - January 30th - February 6th, 2022).

Sales rose to 240 (from 224), New Listings reached 408 (from 394) and Total Active Listings increased to 2,470 (from 2,324).

Overall, the market inched deeper into a Seller`s Market with 2.57 Months-of-Inventory (down from 2.59).

In fact, EVERY sub-market was in a Seller's Market this past week except for one. That lagard is (unsurprisingly) Westside Houses. However, even that sub-market is showing signs of life...

Sales for Westside Houses increased dramatically (from 18 to 27) moving it to just 4.74 MOI. That's a Balanced Market and the strongest showing since way back in April 2021.

Condos and Townhouses are at the forefront of this surging market. Specifically in East Vancouver with the sub-markets of Condos (1.52 MOI) and Townhouses (1.71 MOI) leading the way.

This amount of activity is unusual this early in the year. We are seeing action...

In the last week of the Vancouver real estate market, activity continued to ramp up after the holidays.

We saw big jumps in activity levels across the board.

Sales rose to 179 (from 147). New Listings were up to 370 (from 272) and Total Active Listings climbed to 2,324 (from 2,222).

Demand continues to outpace supply, however. We saw the all-important months-of-inventory drop further into a Seller's Market to 3.25 (from 3.78).

The hottest sub-markets continue to be East Vancouver condos (1.58 MOI) and townhouses (1.91 MOI). Followed not to far behind by condos (2.86 MOI) and townhouses (2.17 MOI) on the Westside.

Even downtown condos are seeing a strong start to the year. Sales jumped to 51 last week bring the MOI down to just 3.06.

What's interesting is that the detached market seems to be off to slower start. The Westside house market (after a couple of weeks of strengthening) took a step in the OPPOSITE direction...seeing sales fall (13 down from 18) and falling further into a Buyer's...

Winter is typically the quietest period in the Vancouver real estate market. That season begins with the month of December and the onset of the holiday season.

This past December certainly saw that expected decline in market activity.

Sales fell to 763 (-26% month-to-month and -9% year-to-year). While it was down in the most recent comparisons, that sales number was WELL above the 10-year average...28% over, in fact.

Meanwhile, new listings dropped significantly to 613 (-55% month-to-month and -11% year-to-year). This number was +19% over the 10-year average.

I believe that this is the story for December. Both sales and new listings were WAY above what we find is normal for the month...and yet, total active listings reached just 2,225 (-32% month-to-month and -26% year-to-year).

That active listing count is -13% the 10-year average...and the lowest number of listings that we've had in Vancouver in the last five years. It's not since December of 2017 (2,180) that we've had so few options...

Here's your update for the final week of 2021 in Vancouver real estate.

Unsurprisingly, this was a VERY quiet week. Traditionally, the week between Christmas and New Year's Day is the sleepiest of the year...and this week was no different.

There were just 48 sales in the last week. That's a low for the year, by FAR. The NEXT lowest number was 105 in Week 1 of the year.

At the same time there were just 37 new listings. Again, this is a low for the year...but a less dramatic one. The NEXT lowest number was 45, also in Week 1.

Total active listings dropped to 2,118. That's another low for the year, over 16% below the 2,465 low reached LAST week.

The result of all this inactivity is that we find ourselves in a BUYER'S MARKET for the first time in 2021 with 11.03 MOI (shooting up from 3.95).

Is this the beginning of a collapse in our market? Absolutley NOT. This is just a regular seasonal pattern. The most extreme one that we usually see.

No market could have been considered "hot" last week,...

The Vancouver real estate market is definitely seeing a holiday effect. Activity levels were subdued across the board.

Sales dipped slightly to 192 from 200.

New listings also fell to 187 (from 213). That's the first ime we've fallen below 200 new listings since the same time LAST year.

Active listings dropped to 2,651...the lowest level the city has seen since Week 2.

Despite this drop in activity we remain in Seller's Market with 3.45 MOI. In fact, we moved even further into a Seller's Market from 3.52 MOI the week before.

The hottest sub-markets remain East Van townhouses and condos. This week it's EV townhouses retaking the lead with 1.74 MOI on the back of an increase in sales from 14 to 18.

The weakest sub-market continues to be Westside houses with 5.91 MOI. However, that's a massive improvement over the 8.26 MOI from the previous week. In fact, it moves Westside houses into a balanced market for the first time in 2 months.

The next two weeks should see the market activity fall even...