Greater
Vancouver home sales have remained steady over the past four months,
indicating stability in the residential housing market. With the MLS®
sales to active listing inventory ratio indicating a buyers’ market,
properties appropriately priced are selling.
According
to the MLSLink® Housing Price Index (HPI), the benchmark price for all
residential properties in Greater Vancouver over the last 12 months has
increased 4.6 per cent to $579,349 in October 2010 from $553,702 in
October 2009. Since June, however, residential home prices in Greater
Vancouver have remained relatively unchanged, declining 0.2 per cent.
“We’ve
seen a lot more consistency and less volatility in recent months when
it comes to both number of sales and pricing, although it’s important to
remember that conditions often vary between communities and
neighbourhoods,” Jake Moldowan, Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver
(REBGV) president said.
Looking at
transactions, the number of residential property sales in Greater
Vancouver totalled 2,337 in October 2010. This represents a 5.3 per cent
increase compared to September 2010 and a 36.9 per cent decline from
the 3,704 sales in October 2009.
More
broadly, last month’s residential sales represent a 71.3 per cent
increase over the 1,364 residential sales in October 2008, a 22.8 per
cent decline compared to October 2007’s 3,028 sales, and a 14.1 per cent
decline compared to the 2,722 sales in October 2006.
“As
we enter the final two months of the year, buyer demand is in closer
alignment with supply than we’ve seen for most of 2010,” Moldowan said.
“Those buying today recognize that they still have a chance to enter the
market with near-record low interest rates, while gradual reductions in
inventory have eased downward pressure on prices.”
Total
active listings on the Multiple Listing Service® (MLS®) in Greater
Vancouver currently sit at 14,075, an 8.6 per cent decline from last
month and a 16.4 per cent increase from October 2009. New listings for
detached, attached and apartment properties declined 25.7 per cent to
3,698 in October 2010 compared to October 2009 when 4,977 new units were
listed.
Sales of detached properties
in October 2010 reached 976, a decrease of 34.4 per cent from the 1,487
detached sales recorded in October 2009, and a 98 per cent increase from
the 493 units sold in October 2008. The benchmark price for detached
properties increased 6.3 per cent from October 2009 to $796,883.
Sales
of apartment properties reached 984 in October 2010, a decline of 38.8
per cent compared to the 1,607 sales in October 2009, and an increase of
52.1 per cent compared to the 647 sales in October 2008.The benchmark
price of an apartment property increased 2.4 per cent from October 2009
to $390,074.
Attached property sales in
October 2010 totalled 377, a decline of 38.2 per cent compared to the
610 sales in October 2009, and a 68.3 per cent increase from the 224
attached properties sold in October 2008. The benchmark price of an
attached unit increased 4 per cent between October 2009 and 2010 to
$487,530.
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