Summary

The key to the last month is SALES (demand) hit an all-time high. If you’ve been following my weekly updates, you’ll already know what the rest of the world is only figuring out now.

All across the Lower Mainland, sales hit an all-time record…and that held true for Vancouver as well. The 1,532 sales in March were 53.2% over the previous month and 101.3% year-over-year (and 45.6% over the 10-yr avg).

Meanhwhile, we also saw a record high of 2,475 new listings hit the market in the last month (42.5% above the 1,737 10-year avg). That was 66% over the previous month and 90.1% year-over-year.

Yet, the immense demand kept overall inventory levels low. Total active listings rose to 2,996 (6% BELOW the 10-yr avg).

A strong local economy, record-low interest rates, demand for space and increased household savings are driving current demand. The result? Prices are seeing immense upward pressure.

Notably, detached house prices are now in the double digits in terms of price...

Week 13 – Market Update

The most remarkable thing that happened in the last week was that sales hit yet another pandemic record. We went from 315 sales in the previous week to 373 this week…that’s an enormous jump in just one week.

At the same time, new listings fell to 475 (from 547) and overall inventory levels held steady at 3,040 (from 3,041). That resulted in the overall Vancouver market sitting at 2.04 Months-of-Inventory….a very strong seller’s market.

With another record set in terms of sales, the seller’s market was true for every micro-market in Vancouver. East Vancouver continues to be where the highest demand is concentrated (just 1.66 MOI) but condos across Vancouver were also incredibly hot (1.83 MOI).

Where do we go from here? At some point, we will start to see a ramping up of new listings into our regular Spring market. Given COVID, I suspect that inventory levels will increase but remain below typical levels…and demand will remain...

Week 12 – Market Update

We had another record this past week. No, it wasn’t for sales this time. That number actually edged ever so slightly lower to 315 from 318.

Last week’s pandemic record was for the number of new listings that hit the market. We jumped from 503 in the previous week to 547 this past week…which was a record not just for 2021 but also all of 2020.

And yet, overall active listings rose but only just over 3,000 to 3,041…and we find ourselves still very much in the middle of a very strong seller’s market with 2.41 months-of-inventory (MOI).

East Vancouver is the market seeing the most activity and the highest levels of demand. Pockets of strength were found in condos across the city…East Van (1.33 MOI), Westside (2.31 MOI) and even Downtown (2.61 MOI).

East Van townhouses were also incredibly strong with just 2.27 MOI as were East Van houses (2.21 MOI). In fact, while sales dropped a little for East Van houses (51 from 54) the...

Week 11 – Market Update

For the third week in a row we hit another pandemic record for sales in a week (that’s a high for 2020 and 2021). This time, we just eked it out rising from 316 to 318.

New listings also hit another 2021 record rising from 465 to 503. This pushed total active listings on the market to 2,894.

Overall market activity edged down just a touch to 2.28 months-of-inventory from 2.2 the previous week. That’s still a very strong overall seller’s market.

Once more, East Vancouver is the hot-spot of market activity. All micro-markets there are below 2 months-of-inventory. This week, lead by East Van condos with 67 sales and just 1.28 months-of-inventory.

The hottest Westside micro-market was for townhouses with just 2.18 months-of-inventory. But, it was detached homes that saw the most improvement…edging just into seller’s market territory going from 4.09 months-of-inventory last week to 3.78 this week.

Downtown condos remained fairly flat...

Week 10 – Market Update

Remember last week when I told you we had a record for the most number of sales in a week since 2019? Well, it happened again.

We went from 224 sales in Week 8, to 274 sales in Week 9 to 316 sales this past week (Week 10).

Meanwhile, the 465 new listings were a record-high for 2021 adding to the 2,787 total active listings. We’ve been hovering around this same level of inventory since the year began.

Overall, our market is sitting at just 2.2 months of inventory…a very solid seller’s market.

Once again, it’s East Vancouver where we are seeing the most demand. East Van townhouses were the leader with just 1.01 months of inventory, followed by condos with 1.54 and houses with 1.88 (which also saw 70% of sales over their asking price).

All three micro-markets in East Van saw the most sales they’d seen since 2019.

On the Westside, only townhouses (with 21) hit their sales highs since 2019. Westside apartments were the only market that...

Summary

Once again, it’s demand that’s the story.

We saw 1,000 sales in February 2021 which is 19% above the 10-year average for the month (there were only two Februarys that had higher numbers in the last 15 years…2011 and 2016). That was also 55% higher sales than the previous month and 64% higher than a year ago.

In the meantime, supply (listings) remains low. The 2,744 listings on the market last month were 12% lower than the 10-year average.

The result? We are well within a seller’s market. Buyer’s are facing fierce competition. Seller’s are able to dictate terms and “cash-in” on a hot market for the most desirable properties.

And what are the most desirable?

The most competitive parts of the market are in the “affordable” price bands for homes geared toward families. East Vancouver is the current driver of our market…specifically for townhouses and 1/2 duplexes (but also condos and houses).

Large, livable condos are...

Week 8 – Market Update

While no one was looking the market got a little bit softer in the last week.

Sales fell from 254 to 224 while total active listings edged higher to 2,794 (from 2,761 the week before). The result? We found ourselves shifting a bit closer to a balanced market…but still in seller’s market territory with a months-of-inventory of 312 (2.72 the week before).

Most micro-markets followed the overall trend. That includes westside townhouses and condos as well as East Van houses and condos. Sales in all of these micro-markets slowed from the previous week and inventory grew. But there were a few bright spots, too.

The hottest market in the last week were East Van townhouses with just 1.63 months-of-inventory. Westside houses and Downtown condos also edged further into seller’s market territory.

Despite these underlying shifts, East Vancouver remains the driver of our market. And overall, the most activity that we are seeing is focused on the &ldquo...

Week 7 – Market Update

The last week could be summed up in one word; stability. After six weeks of fairly quick and steady improvements for nearly every micro-market last week was a sideways move.

Sales rose only marginally from 252 to 254. New Listings climbed from 351 to 353 and overall Active Listings reached 2,761 (from 2,717 the week before). This all translated to a slight increase in Month-of-Inventory 2.72 (from 2.7)…still squarely in an overall seller’s market.

In terms of micro-markets, East Vancouver continues to be the hotspot for buyers. East Van condos in particular had a very strong showing (MOI of just 1.65) as did East Van townhouses (MOI of 2.09). The parallel markets on the Westside also had a strong showing, but not quite as hot.

The Downtown core appears to be seeing a resurgence of buyer activity. What was one of the weakest micro-markets for much of 2020 has been in a Seller’s Market for the last month. Even downtown townhouses had their best...

Week 6 – Market Update

For the first time since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Vancouver real estate market was firmly in a seller’s market last week. We were at 2.7 months-of-inventory which is the lowest it’s been since late March 2020 (a number below 4 is typically considered to indicate a seller’s market).

Sales continued to rise last week, going from 219 to 252. Simultaneously, the listing inventory edged lower from 2,748 to 2,717…and new listings went from 328 to 351.

We are seeing elevated levels of demand and shrinking supply in most micro-markets. The most competitive markets in the last week were the condo markets across the city (East Van, Westide and even downtown), the East Van townhouse market as well as houses (even Westside houses are seeing signs of life but are not yet in a buyer’s market).

The weakest micro-markets were for Westside and downtown townhouses. Sales fell on the Westside from 13 back down to just 7 (although there...

Summary

In a “normal” year, January is one of the quietest months of the real estate calendar. It’s a month that many local realtors usually take vacation, because very little happens.

As we know, this isn’t a “normal” year and this January isn’t following the typical plan.

Overall inventory levels are low, which is fairly normal. Yes, they are a bit lower than normal but not significantly so (2,656 listings in January nearly 7% below the 2,848 of the 10-yr average).

What’s unusual is the amount of demand. There were 612 sales in January 2021. That’s nearly 23% above the 10-yr average (498)!

It appears that our market is ramping up in activity far faster than it usually does.

This is an indication of just how much untapped demand that there is in our market…especially for “affordable” price-points. But, even the luxury end of the market is now starting to see a bump in activity.

What does all this mean?

With elevated...