Week 39 – Market Update

The fall market appears to be in full swing.

We set records for 2020 on all fronts (New Listings, Total Active Listings as well as Sales). It’s a positive sign to see this level of activity indicating an immense amount of confidence in the Vancouver real estate market by both sellers as well as buyers.

Sales are outpacing new listings coming on to the market. The result is that we are (overall) getting pushed toward a seller’s market as indicated by our Months of Supply hitting a post-COVID 2020 low of 4.18.

More than ever, not all micro-markets in Vancouver are behaving in unison. The hottest market is the Detached (house) market on both the East and Westside. The same holds true for Townhouses/Duplexes on both sides of the city.

Condos are another story. While they are holding steady in East Vancouver and the Westside, the downtown market is the weakest of all the micro-markets…staying firmly in buyer’s market territory.

If you are...

Week 38 – Market Update
Overview

The Vancouver real estate market saw higher activity levels continue in Week 38 (September 13th – September 19th, 2020). We had one quieter week for sales in the previous week, but that did not become a trend.

In fact, sales numbers hovered just below the highs for the year hitting 219 (previous week was 188). Meanwhile, overall listing numbers continue to grow. 467 new listings bumped up the overall listing count to a high of 4130 for 2020.

You can see by that blue line in the chart above, that the trend for the Months of Inventory has been lower over the last couple of months (generally, from the top left to the bottom right)…indicating an increasing seller’s market and a market that is getting stronger.

Diving into the specific micro-markets, given the overall trend it’s not surprising to see most markets performing very well. The strongest markets appear to be East Vancouver houses and townhouses and Westside townhouses...

Summary

We have come a very long way since April.

This August saw one of the strongest performances for the month in the last 5 years. Normally, August is one of the quietest months of the summer as everyone packs in their final summer holidays and turns their attention to the beginning of the school year. That was not the case this year.

For the City of Vancouver, sales hit 819 which was up only slightly over last month (+().24%) but a massive increase over a year ago (+24.66%). This was approximately 10% over the 10-year-average for sales in the month of August.

Meanwhile, Total Active Listings edged lower (-3.5% from last month and -4.1% from last year). The 3,637 listings was about dead even for the 10-year-average which stands at 3632.

This is particularly noteworthy given that we had a slower start to the month (a trend that I pointed out in my regular weekly market update) . The first two weeks of August actually saw a bit of a dip in activity…something that would have been...

Week 36 – Market Update
Overview

It was yet another busy week for Vancouver real estate.

The typical pattern we usually see leading up to the Labour Day long weekend is one of subdued activity. In this unusual year, that typical pattern has been thrown out the window.

The last three weeks have been particularly strong. We set highs for the year LAST week for Sales (227) as well as Total Active Listings (3883). This dropped ever so slightly to 223 and 3863 in Week 36 (the week ending September 5th, 2020).

The ever so important Months of Inventory reached a pandemic low of just 4.28 last week but rose slightly this week to 4.33…overall still in Seller’s Market territory.

In terms of sub-markets, East Van houses and condos both hit highs for the years in regard to sales (38 and 41 respectively)…but all sub-markets had above-average levels of activity this past week.

I expect that we will see a greater number of listings coming onto the market in the coming weeks…as...

Week 35 – Market Update
Overview

Summer vacation is most definitely over for Vancouver real estate.

Week 35 continued the torrid pace set by the previous week. Both sales and new listings hit highs for 2020…reaching 227 sales this past week in the City of Vancouver (the previous high was 219 set just prior to the onset of the pandemic).

And while inventory is growing (also reaching a high for the year), the Months of Inventory fell to it’s lowest level of the year (showing that demand outpaced supply this past week).

All market segments are seeing increasing levels of activity. For the most part, there was consistency between last week and this week across the board.

The one area that saw a significant jump in activity levels was Downtown Vancouver apartments. We went from 41 sales in the previous week to 57 this week.

Vancouver West (Westside)

East Vancouver (Eastside)

Downtown Vancouver

Week 34 – Market Update
Overview

Well, THAT took a quick turn.

After we had a dip in sales for the first couple of weeks of August, this past week reversed the trend and took a big jump forward. In fact, this past week saw the second highest sales in a week for the entire year (213 sales this week vs 219 in Week 10 just prior to the pandemic).

Meanwhile, we also saw the highest number of new listings hit the market for the entire year. We reached 424 new listings which is just the second time this year we’ve had more than 400 in a week.

With those numbers, we are seeing annual highs for activity in many market segments. East Vancouver is once again the most active.

After a setback last week, East Vancouver houses regained their crown as the most active with 33 sales and 12 of them over asking price…but East Van townhouses also had a strong performance.

Other areas of strength were seen in Westside houses condos and townhouses…and there was a solid showing for Downtown...

Week 33 – Market Update
Overview

For a second week, sales were subdued and listings increased.

The recovery in activity levels from the lows we saw in April appear to have stalled in July. August so far, has been a more typical summer month. A month where the market takes a breather along with Vancouverites.

Notably this past week, East Van houses did not lead the market. Sales saw a significant drop (from 27 to 21) and listings jumped (from 428 to 451). Sales over the asking price also dropped from 13 to just 5.

Strength continued for Westside houses, though. As well as apartments on the Westside…and not a bad showing for downtown Vancouver apartments either. These segments saw sales hold steady over the last week and listings only rise marginally.

It’s more than likely that the market will continue to drift in the coming weeks. We are in the midst of the last weeks of summer, and it’s very common for people’s focus to turn to vacations and preparations for...

Week 32 – Market Update
Overview

After a brief week of respite, inventory levels generally increased this past week once again. Meanwhile, sales numbers dipped…albeit only slightly.

East Vancouver houses continue to be the market hotspot. Sales dipped here from 31 to 27 but 13 were still over-asking price. Westside houses continue to impress with a solid 22 sales (although only 5 were over-asking). Eastside condos had another strong week with 35 sales (up from 34)….while Westside and Downtown condos had lower sales week over week.

This type of market activity is fairly typical of what we often see in late July and August. Sellers were hoping to take advantage of increased buyer activity. But, those buyers are now less focused on real estate and more on taking advantage of the last bit of summer.

It’s likely that we will continue to see this trend continue until mid-September when most families will be back from holiday and will get refocused on real estate…so...

Summary

July continued the trend of improvement in market activity. The worst month was April and since then each subsequent month has increased activity levels.

Across the board, there were positive improvements over June. Sales were up 19% over the previous month (7% over the previous year). Total listings rose just 9% from the previous month and were down 12% y-o-y. Meanwhile, every housing type saw increases both m-t-m as well as y-o-y.

The weekly stats that I’m following indicate that we might be starting to see the beginning of this positive momentum stall…but that’s not surprising given that we are now at the height of summer and most people are focusing on vacations rather than real estate.

July 2020 - Vancouver Real Estate - Total Active Listings

Parting Thoughts

As I mentioned last month, there is definitely a wide disparity in the market. Certain pockets are seeing enormous amounts of demand while others are languishing.

Of note, the hottest market is East Vancouver...

Week 30 – Market Update
Overview

The keyword of the week is consistency. For the most part, the pattern established over the course of the last month has held fairly firm for the Vancouver real estate market.

Sales are hovering at similar levels across the city for just about all housing types. At the same time, we are seeing inventory levels increase but not alarmingly.

The most significant strength is still seen in East Vancouver houses where this past week saw 50% of sales over the asking price.

Vancouver West (Westside)

Westside detached homes had another week of steady sales. Meanwhile, listing inventory rose but new listings did not flood the market. With the median price exceeding the average price for the first time this year, it indicates that for this particular week there was significantly more sales activity at the lower end of the price scale.

Meanwhile, Westside Apartments had their strongest week of the year with 49 sales (the previous high was 44). Inventory still rose...