Week 25 – Vancouver Real Estate Week in Review (June 14th – June 20th, 2020)

eek 25 – Market Update
Overview

This was another week where there were many signs of improvements in the Vancouver real estate market. Pretty much across the board there were increasing levels of activity.

The boost we are seeing right now MAY be due to active buyers attempting to get deals done before new CMHC lending rules come into effect as of July 1st…something which we will only know for certain in a couple of weeks.

Vancouver West (Westside)

Both detached homes and apartments saw steady improvement in the last week. While total listings increased, it was at a slower pace keeping supply levels low. Meanwhile, demand held steady (for houses) or increased (for apartments).

The Westside Townhouse market saw a big drop in sales, though (from 10 the previous week to just 3 this week).

East Vancouver (Eastside)

The bright spot in the market appears to be East Vancouver detached homes. On all fronts there were significant improvements in the last week.

Specifically, after weeks of increasing inventory levels across the board this is the only category to see a drop (mind you it fell just by 1). New listings fell (down to 38 from 61 the week before) and over asking price sales climbed from 6 to 10.

Both apartments and townhouses in East Vancouver also saw strong improvements. While inventory levels rose, they did so only modestly as sales increased and new listings coming onto the market slowed down.

Downtown Vancouver

There appears to be some positive signs in the Downtown Vancouver real estate market. Condo sales bounced back after a quiet week the week before (up about 50%). Meanwhile, overall inventory levels continued to rise but at a slower pace than weeks before.

Meanwhile, there was only one sale of a townhouse in the Downtown Vancouver core…which has been a typical pace for much of the year.

Summary

The Vancouver real estate market saw a trend of strength returning to the market continue. This was true of basically all housing types in all three major Vancouver areas (East Vancouver, Vancouver West and Downtown Vancouver).

We saw the most significant improvements in the last week once again in the East Vancouver detached market…as East Van was a bright spot in general. Conversely, the exception to the positive trends across the board was Westside townhouses.

I suspect that we are going to see another positive week ahead of us. CMHC lending criteria are changing as of July 1st, 2020 and I think many buyers currently active in the market will be trying to get deals done before that deadline.

The true test will be to see what happens AFTER July 1st.