Week 27 – Vancouver Real Estate Week in Review (July 28th – July 4th, 2020)

Week 27 – Market Update
Overview

Mostly, the last week saw the trends we’ve been following in the last few weeks continue. Inventory levels are levelling while sales continue to increase.

As I mentioned last week, we do need to put this activity in perspective. While sales are up, they are NOT at normal levels for this time of year…and are generally hovering around the levels we were seeing just prior to pandemic in the early spring.

I believe that the boost in sales we’ve seen MAY be due to buyers trying to get deals completed prior to new lending rules coming into effect on July 1st. The next few weeks will be telling in that regard.

Vancouver West (Westside)

Of note on the Westside, is that all categories saw a drop in inventory. Sales didn’t increase much, if at all…but they held firm across the board. The one exception to this was for Westside houses where sales fell from 25 the week before to 18 this past week.

I also found the rise and divergence of the average and median sales prices for Westside Apartments worth noting. That’s an indication that we are seeing some high-value condos selling (quite the opposite of what happened downtown).

East Vancouver (Eastside)

Similarly, East Vancouver also saw inventory levels hold this past week. The exception to this was for Townhouses where inventory rose, but only by 9 from 170 to 179.

Sales saw a sharp drop from previous weeks. Only Apartments saw sales hold while they fell for both Houses (from 27 to 16) as well as Townhouses (from 17 to 4!).

I suspect that we just saw demand shifted for East Vancouver Townhouses. Last week we had a sharp rise in sales (from 7 to 17), followed by a sharp drop (17 to 4). It’s likely this will normalize in the coming weeks…but it’s worth watching,

Downtown Vancouver

Inventory levels downtown are not only levelling, but they actually dropped last week. Sales followed suit for apartments falling from 40 to 26 after a couple of weeks in a strong uptrend.

One thing that jumps out at me is the average and median sales prices both dropping and converging for downtown apartments. This is an indication that the units that are selling are generally at more “affordable” price points.

Summary

Consolidation is the watchword for the past week in the Vancouver real estate market.

Mostly, we saw inventory levels across market segments either hold or fall.

Sales meanwhile, were generally stable with notable exceptions. Specifically East Vancouver houses and townhouses (along with an honorable mention for downtown apartments) where we had sizable declines week over week.

Another interesting pattern was that more high-value condos were sold on Vancouver’s Westside while the opposite held true downtown. In the Downtown Vancovuer apartment market it was a much stronger week for lower-priced condos.