Week 5 – Market Update

Rising demand drove the Vancouver real estate market in the last week.

Sales more than doubled across the city since the beginning of the year. Going from 105 in Week 1 to 219 last week.

It’s normal for demand to ramp up at this time of year, but not this quickly. This level of demand is more typical of early-March than late-January.

Meanwhile, supply (the number of listings) is increasing but only slowly. The number of active listings has increased by less than 10% since the beginning of the year (from 2,517 to 2,734).

The result? We’ve entered a seller’s market with 3.82 month-of-inventory. The hottest seller’s markets in the last week were East Van houses (the previous week’s softness was indeed temporary) and condos as well as Westside condos (with an honorable mention to an increasingly active Downtown condo market).

Slower pockets across the city would include Downtown townhouses (where there have been no sales in the last...

Week 4 – Market Update

One month into 2021 and our real estate market continues to increase in activity. We are seeing that activity rise on all fronts including sales, new listings and total active listings.

So far, demand is outpacing supply. This is demonstrated by the months-of-inventory dropping in every consecutive week. This past week we find ourselves hovering at 4.1 months-of-inventory which is just at the edge of a seller’s market.

The hottest micro-market in the past week was East Vancouver townhouses. Sales jumped from 7 in the previous week to 23 last week (sales for this micro-market only reached >20 3 times in 2020).

Downtown apartments also continue to see increasing levels of activity. Both sales and new listings are indicating that buyers are returning to this market that was hardest hit by the pandemic. So far, it looks as though bargain hunters are the dominant buyers…but it looks as though this micro-market is one to watch.

East Vancouver houses...

Week 3 – Market Update

The last week was another of incremental increases in activity. We saw upticks on all fronts including sales (130 from 125), new listings (331 from 288) and active listings (2,672 from 2,588.

The market remains in balanced territory for most micro-markets. Months of inventory is hovering just over 5 for both townhouses and apartments. However, houses are tipping slightly into a seller’s market.

It’s the East Vancouver side that’s carrying the load, though. East Van houses are once again the hottest micro-market (

Downtown Vancouver is also seeing signs of increased activity. While condos are still well in a buyer’s market, it’s held up well over the last few weeks. Some optimism appears to be returning in this market that has been hardest hit by the pandemic.

It should also be noted that downtown townhouses had their best week in the last year…with 4 sales and just 38 active listings. That’s a strong seller’s market,...

Week 2 – Market Update

We had an overall (marginal) increase in activity in the last week. Sales climbed from 105 to 125 and listings went from 2,517 to 2,588. These are both low numbers, but to be expected at this time of year.

The one number that saw a significant increase was of new listings. These hit 288 in the last week which is a number we haven’t seen since the first week of November, 2020 (Week 45).

That level of new listings is pretty significant for so early in the year…but it’s notable that total active listings hardly increased (meaning we likely saw a higher than normal number of listings get removed from the MLS last week).

The only micro-market that showed strength last week was East Vancouver Houses where we had 24 sales, 9 of which sold over their asking price. Those numbers are pretty astounding given how quiet much of the rest of the city was.

If you are thinking of selling a house, these numbers indicate that there’s absolutely no reason...

Summary

An unusual year ended up being capped by an unusual December.

The month of December 2020 saw an unusually high level of sales. The 872 sales that took place was 46% over the 10 year average for the month (+0.1% month-to-month) …and the highest amount ever recorded.

There were 672 new listings in the month which was also well above normal for the month. In fact, it was 37.5% higher than the 10 year average. While total active listings of 2704 was just 5.2% over the 10 year average for the month.

In the grand scheme, this meant we had elevated demand with lower levels of supply. This was especially true for East Vancouver where all housing types were well within a seller’s market. On the Westside, houses and townhouses were both in balanced territory with only apartments in a seller’s market.

What this means is that as a buyer, you will likely be facing strong competition as you move forward. You will need to act quickly and decisively in order to secure the best...

Week 52 – Market Update

Mid-December through to mid-January is traditionally one of the quietest periods on the real estate calendar. Most people are either taking vacations, preparing for the holidays, or spending time with family…and as a result we see fewer listings and sales during this period.

This past week definitely played into this overall trend. For the 7th straight week we saw overall listings drop and for the 4th straight week we had both sales and new listings decline. In fact, there were just 44 new listings overall in Vancouver this past week (3 months ago we were getting more than 10x that in a week).

While the overall trend is expected, there are as always pockets of surprising strength as well as weakness. Of note, the strongest markets were East Vancouver houses as well as apartments in all areas (East Van, Westside and even Downtown). The weaker micro-market in the past week was for townhouses/duplexes in all areas.

Next week, I expect that we will see another...

Week 51 – Market Update

Overall, recent trends continued. Our market is easing into the winter holidays. Taking a breather as is typical for this time of year.

Total Sales in the last week remained below 200 at 193 (falling just 4 from the week before). There was a much more significant drop in New Listings (down to 148 from 202 the previous week) and Total Active Listings (3,259 down from 3,419 the week before).

The most active market remains Townhouses. While Sales did slow considerably from the crazy week before, it remains in a Seller’s Market. Interestingly, it’s the only market segment that saw New Listings outstrip Sales.

The hottest micro-markets were for East Van Houses and Downtown Condos. These two micro-markets were the only ones to see their sales increase from the previous week. In fact, the 61 Sales Downtown were that market’s high of the year. Westside + Eastside Condos also had a good week.

The coolest market segment in the last week was Westside...

Week 50 – Market Update

As expected, overall activity levels are falling as we get closer to the holidays. Vancouver saw sales dip just under 200 units in the past week (at 197). Both new listings (202) and total active listings (3,419) also continued to fall.

Our market remains in a Balanced Market with months of inventory sitting at 4.34. Both houses and apartments saw buyers gain a bit of an upper hand as sales slowed faster than total active listings. This was particularly true on the Westside where both of these micro-markets saw sharper drops in sales than elsewhere.

The two strongest micro-markets in the last week were East Vancouver townhouses and houses. East Van townhouses reached a peak for the year with 27 sales (up from just 9 last week). Meanwhile, East Van houses also had a great week with 32 sales (up from 25 the week before) fully half of which (16) sold over their asking price.

It’s no surprise to see the market slow-down overall at this time of year. What is...

Week 49 – Market Update

After dipping below the 200 Sales/week level for a couple weeks, this past week held over that benchmark for the third consecutive week. It appears that we are heading into the end of the year with a bang rather than a whimper as overall demand remains impressive.

We often see a steeper drop in Total Active Listings in the weeks that straddle the end of the month. This past week was no exception to this rule as Total Active Listings (supply) continued to drop heading into the final weeks of the year.

We are seeing most Vancouver micro-markets in Balanced Market territory. However the hottest segments were primarily on the Westside where both houses and apartments had a very good week…both close to their highs (in terms of sales) for the year. Meanwhile, townhouses/duplexes took a bit of a breather as sales in this segment took a significant dip.

I’m surprised with how much demand we are continuing to see late into the year. It’s likely we...

Summary

We had 836 sales in Vancouver in November which was 13% higher than the 10-year-avg. In the last decade, only 2015 had more sales in the month of November.

This continues the trend that we’ve seen in the last few months. Demand in our market continues to be at/near record highs. This level of demand is continuing to put upward pressure on prices…especially for houses and townhomes/duplexes.

Both New Listings as well as Total Active Listings continue to increase. However, that supply has not kept up with demand. This imbalance is the reason that prices are being pushed upwards.

For yet another month, East Vancouver is leading the city as the strongest market. All East Van micro-markets are in a Seller’s Market. Meanwhile, the Westside is mostly in a Balanced Market…Downtown is the only exception (in a Buyer’s Market).

Strongest demand is being seen for family-oriented homes at “affordable” price points. That means larger condos and townhouses...