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...

Week 29 – Market Update
Overview

The “spring” market continues so far this summer in Vancouver,.

Overall, listings rose in just about every category across the city this past week. New listings continued to come onto the market as sellers confidence has increased in recent weeks…but the pace of new listings slowed somewhat over the previous week.

Meanwhile, sales numbers remained at the higher levels we saw in the last couple of weeks.

At this point, I think it’s safe to put any concerns about the CMHC lending rule changes behind us. This makes two consecutive weeks of solid sales number AFTER these rules came into effect.

Vancouver West (Westside)

The Westside remains the geographic division that is seeing a slower recovery.

In particular, houses on the westside are not seeing the market surge seen in East Vancouver. Listings are increasing as elsewhere in the city, but sales have not yet recovered to pre-COVID levels (albeit sales were faster this past week...

Week 28 – Market Update
Overview

The market continues to behave more like the early spring than summer. That seems somewhat appropriate given the weather in recent weeks…but it’s not typical of this time of year.

This week saw a rise in inventory levels as well as (mostly) increasing sales. New listings coming onto the market saw a bigger jump than in recent weeks. Some segments of the market had the highest sales numbers of the year in the past week (such as East Vancouver houses).

This first full week after CMHC lending rules came into effect July 1st appears to indicate sales numbers were NOT artificially inflated by this change.

Vancouver West (Westside)

On the Westside the market is flashing some signals of weakness. Houses in particular have struggled in the last couple of weeks with inventory rising, sales numbers shrinking (for two consecutive weeks) and days on market growing.

Similar weakness is showing for apartments as well as townhouses but not as significantly....

Summary

The rebounding trend that began in May continued in June.

Every indicator (except price) moved in a positive direction this past month.

Sales were up nearly 60% from last month (and almost 19% from the previous year). While new listings matched that pace up 60% over last month, TOTALl listings increased only 10% over the previous month (and -25% from the previous year).

In hindsight, it appears that the market saw an ebb in activity levels in mid-April. The trend that I’ve been noticing in my review of the weekly real estate statistics, is that nearly every week since has seen improvements in activity.

It would appear that both buyers and sellers are becoming more and more comfortable in our current environment. Messaging from government has helped to shape sentiment, but also efforts by realtors to make the entire buying or selling process safer have helped.

Parting Thoughts

I do want to point out that we are seeing an unusually disparate market. Some pockets are incredibly...

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...