November Listings Continue to Cool in Vancouver Real Estate Market

November listing and sales statistics for the Vancouver Real Estate Market continued to cool. The number of homes for sale has continued to decrease as we approach the 2011 Holiday Season.

Total sales in Vancouver for November 2011 were up (+5.61%) from October to 772 sales, which is down (-7.32%) from one year ago. In Vancouver West, there were 529 sales in November, up (+7.52%) from October 2011 ~ and down (-7.03%) from November 2010. in Vancouver East, November numbers were fairly consistent with those from October topping out at 243 sales, up (+1.67%). These numbers are down       (-7.95%) from November 2010.

In general, we saw a modest increase in Vancouver Sales activity month-to-month while listing numbers continue to slow. New Listings were down in both areas (-25.48% in Vancouver East to 310 and -26.64% in Vancouver West to 749) for the month of November.

Steady sales resulted in fairly even benchmark prices in the Vancouver West detached market in November, rising a modest half a percentage point (+0.56% at $2,019,926). The benchmark prices for attached homes readjusted, with prices down (-7.82 % at $790,046) from October. Vancouver East detached prices are up (+0.79% at $863,183) in addition to attached properties showing little change at (+ 0.17% at $556,380) for November. The apartment market mirrored inverse trends in Vancouver West and Vancouver East, dipping (-1.27%) on the West Side while rising (+1.80%) in East Van.

The Vancouver Real Estate Board’s official line

“The pace of home listings entering the market eased slightly in November, compared to recent months, while sale levels remained fairly normal for this time of year,” Rosario Setticasi, REBGV president said. “November activity helped put our market firmly in balanced territory.”

For more information on Vancouver Real Estate Statistics, check out my website here.

Related posts:

1. Vancouver Market Update October 2011
2. Market Update September 2011
3. March 2011 Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver MLS Statistics

Listing Numbers Ease in October

Vancouver Real Estate Stats

In the month of October, Vancouver listings remained neck-and-neck with numbers from September. However, October was the first month all year to show a slight decrease in the total amount of listed properties throughout the entire lower mainland. With a sales-to-active ratio of 15%, the Greater Vancouver Market is hovering in the lower end of a balanced market and has been consistent in that trend for 5 months.

Total sales in Vancouver Proper for October 2011 were up ever so slightly (+0.41%) from September, and down (-7.23%) from one year ago. In Vancouver West, there were 4 sales in October, up (+4.02%) from September 2011 ~ and down (-10.38%) from October 2010. Things were a little unusual in Vancouver East, where the market showed a drop in sales activity in October with 239 sales, down (-6.27%) from last month, and oddly, a zero percent change (+/-0.00%) from October 2010 when 239 homes also sold.

The market is healthy, however the talk has changed about our positioning in a buyer’s market since inventory has cooled for the first time in quite a few months and sales are modestly up. While Vancouver East and Vancouver West showed different trends in sales activity this month, the amount of New Listings was down both areas (-29.13% in Vancouver East to 416 and -21.52% in Vancouver West to 1021) for the month of October.

With fairly steady sales activity, detached benchmark prices in Vancouver proper for the month of September stayed fairly even. In Vancouver West, benchmark prices stayed within a percentage point (-1.08% at $2,008,702) for detached homes and up (+1.80 % at $857,108) for attached properties. Vancouver East has fared similarly, with detached prices up (+1.77% at $856,411), and down (-0.58% at $555,452) for attached properties. The apartment market in both Vancouver West and Vancouver remained steady, dipping (-1.53%) and (-1.82%) respectively.

The Vancouver Real Estate Board’s official line

“Right now, prospective home buyers have a good selection of properties to choose from and more time to make decisions,” Rosario Setticasi, REBGV president said. “Home sellers should be mindful of local market conditions to ensure they are pricing their properties competitively.”

For more information on Vancouver Real Estate Statistics, check out my website here.

Related posts:

1. Market Update September 2011
2. April 2011 Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver MLS Statistics
3. May 2011 Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver MLS Statistics

Home Listings Continue to Rise in Vancouver while Sales Slow

Vancouver Stats Sept 2011

With fall officially under way, Vancouver listing inventory has recovered from the summer vacation lull in September. That being said, sale activity was marginally lower in September for the fourth month in a row, having peaked for the year in June 2011. With a sales-to-listings ratio in the Greater Vancouver area sitting around 14%, the lower mainland is reflecting a healthy buyer’s market.

Total sales in Vancouver Proper for September 2011 were down (-4.71%) from August, and down (-3.32%) from one year ago. In Vancouver West, there were 473 sales in September, down (-9.73%) from August 2011 ~ and down (-8.33%) from September 2010. Things were decidedly different in Vancouver East, where the market showed more sales activity in September with 255 sales, up (+6.25%) from last month, and up (+7.59%) from September 2010.

Although the market healthy, we seem to be arriving at the top end of a buyer’s market. This will especially hold true if inventory continues to rise and sales continue to slow in Vancouver. While Vancouver East and Vancouver West showed different trends in sales activity this month, the amount of New Listings is up in both areas (+17.87% in Vancouver East to 587 and +28.94% in Vancouver West to 1301) for the month of September. In the Greater Vancouver Market at large, September listing numbers increased another 4.6 % from August to September.

Even with slower sales activity, detached benchmark prices in Vancouver proper rose again in the month of September. In Vancouver West, benchmark prices rebounded from the summer sales slump (+3.43% at $2,030,720) for detached homes and up (5.5 % at $841,990) for attached properties. Vancouver East has fared similarly, with detached prices up (+2.13% at $841,509), up (+0.79% at $558,693) for attached properties. While the apartment market in Vancouver West remained steady, up (+0.30%) it fell slightly in Vancouver East (-0.15%).

The Vancouver Real Estate Board’s official line

“There’s more competition amongst home sellers in today’s market, providing more options for prospective buyers,” Rosario Setticasi, REBGV president said.”Buyers now have more properties to choose from and more time to make decisions compared to the spring season.”

“Our sales-to-active-listing ratio currently sits at 14 per cent, which is the lowest it’s been this year. Generally analysts say that a buyer’s market takes shape when the ratio dips to about 12 to 14%, or lower, for a sustained period of time,” Setticasi said.

Related posts:

1. April 2011 Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver MLS Statistics
2. May 2011 Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver MLS Statistics
3. February 2011 Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver MLS Statistics

The affordability of Vancouver housing prices continues to be buzz-worthy topic for anyone interested in investing (or holding) property the market. In Van City, I think the affordability issue rates high on people’s general conversational radar ~ so much so, that the question “where do you live” seems to go hand in hand with “what do you do?” in a first-time introduction. Now granted, I’m in the Real Estate Business; but I notice more and more that this topic comes up in every day conversation *outside* of what I would consider my work sphere. It seems to me that property talk ranks as high as general comments about the current weather ~ which ultimately, speaks to the high level of saturation we’re exposed to via media the about state of the market here.

We live in a hot city for Real Estate. It’s just the truth ~ and people in the industry would be happy to tell you how fortunate buyers, sellers and professionals are to live here and participate in market conditions like these. But I’ve always noticed that Real Estate talk here in Vancouver appears to be driven by fear ~ even in what is lauded as one of the best markets in North America. As a general comment on the media, it seems to me that the only time people aren’t worried about a looming drop in home values or a predicted bubble burst is when the Market is actually in a significant downturn or correction (like we saw in 2009). You can look at articles published every day between 2009 and now; the same concerns have been raised time and time again.

So why are we so afraid? One year ago, I wasn’t thinking that housing prices on the West side would be up 20% in a year. I don’t think anyone really predicted that type of average price increase, which is really the zenith of the conundrum to an extent I guess. The truth is that even the most astute economists can’t predict with total accuracy what will happen in the market. The very nature of free enterprise disables accurate market forecasting. We can’t be completely sure what will happen any more than we can predict the weather for 6 months from now. So the idea of timing the market is in itself a fallacy; the choice becomes much more about how to get the current market to work *for* you and your circumstances, whatever they may be.

What I do know is this: Real Estate Prices in Vancouver have increased every year. The variables upon which fluxes are often repudiated to be dependent haven’t affected the market as much as we feared ~ be it immigration, the economy or a looming bubble pop. The truth is simply that Vancouver continues to be one of the most popular places to live in Canada; and the space here is limited. Unless a major economic catastrophe hits, you can safely assume that as a general trend, prices will steadily continue to increase, just as they have in other international, high-demand markets such as San Fran, New York, London, etc.

I have found myself wondering if Vancouver is simply behind the trends of global Real Estate. We as Canadians have had the luxury of unlimited space for centuries ~ Canadian writers like J.R Saul say that it’s part of what truly defines our Canadian identity. I think cities like Toronto and Vancouver have had to grow into an awareness of being international markets, and are now wrestling with the pros and cons that go with such a title.

Sometimes, I think being truly Canadian is to have an identity that is allowed the generosity of flux. Perhaps the market is simply mirroring this value back to us… and soon, we may just have it figured out.

No related posts.

No related posts.

 It’s tough to beat the type of news week we had last week for the Vancouver real estate market. This past week we were still mulling over the affects of some of the announcements made last week, such as the HST. The biggest news of the week, was the record July we had in the Vancouver housing market and that signs are beginning to appear right across the country that Canadian real estate could be on the way to recovery.

The News

August 12th, 2009 Five signs a Canadian housing recovery is on the way

August 12th, 2009 Local new home building drops significantly in July

August 12th, 2009 Canadian new home prices dip

August 10th, 2009 Homebuyers costs add up under HST

August 9th, 2009 Homebuyers will have to shell out tens of thousands thanks to HST

August 7th, 2009 Real estate growth continues with hike in housing sales

August 5th, 2009 First-time buyers spearhead record July for Metro Vancouver real estate

Please Donate

On June 22nd, 2009 I broke the record for the most ascents of the Grouse Grind for charity. The Royal LePage Shelter Foundation is an incredible organization which is there to help women and children suffering from domestic abuse. Of every dollar donated, 100% goes directly to those in need (Royal LePage covers all administrative costs of the charity).

Donate to the Royal LePage Shelter Foundation

More Info on Vancouver Real Estate

If you’d like to learn more about the Vancouver real estate market generally you can check out this page.

Are you thinking of buying or selling, or just have questions then you can contact me here or send me a quick email.

Copyright © 2009 Vancouver Real Estate in the Vancouver Real Estate Blog by Sebastian Albrecht, Vancouver Realtor with Royal LePage Vancouver ”Weekly Vancouver Real Estate News Roundup – August 10th 2009”

No related posts.

The provincial government announced on July 31st, 2009 that it was ending the loan program of the Homeowner Protection Office. You’ll recall that I first drew attention to the matter at the beginning of the month when the Homeowner Protection Office first indicated that there were funding problems for the interest free loan program.

The loan program was initially set-up by the NDP government in 1998. At the time, many advocates were calling on the government to pay outright for renovations required by the leaky condo mess. The loan program was intended to last 10 years and have a $250 million budget to refurbish condos built prior to 1999 (when the building code was changed to require rainscreening). Instead, it lasted until 2009 and loaned out $670 million.

The loan program had funding issues that resulted from the decline of the BC real estate market in the last year. Funding for the program came from a levy placed on new construction by the provincial government. With the decline in the market there was a fall in new housing starts that dried up the funding source.

When announcing the end of the program, Colin Hansen claimed that there is no longer a need for the loan program. I strongly disagree. As a Vancouver realtor I know of many buildings in this city that were built before 1999 that have yet to be fixed. Where will funding come from for the financially strapped owners of these buildings when the time comes?

In addition, there are also a number of buildings built under the new building code that have building envelope issues. Rainscreening, or concrete construction, are not guarantees of sound construction. The provincial government needs to continue this loan program in order to maintain confidence in the quality of our construction industry and our real estate market.

Interestingly, while the government is going to stop funding the program they will continue to collect the $750 levy on new housing starts (used as the funding source for the program).

Please Donate

On June 22nd, 2009 I broke the record for the most ascents of the Grouse Grind for charity. The Royal LePage Shelter Foundation is an incredible organization which is there to help women and children suffering from domestic abuse. Of every dollar donated, 100% goes directly to those in need (Royal LePage covers all administrative costs of the charity).

Donate to the Royal LePage Shelter Foundation

More Info on Vancouver Real Estate

If you’d like to learn more about the Vancouver real estate market generally you can check out this page.

Are you thinking of buying or selling, or just have questions then you can contact me here or send me a quick email.

Copyright © 2009 Vancouver Real Estate in the Vancouver Realtor Blog by Sebastian Albrecht, Vancouver Realtor with Royal LePage Vancouver ”Leaky Condo Loan Program Scrapped

No related posts.

There was a lot that happened this past week that affected Vancouver real estate. We began the week with the Bank of Canada predicting economic growth for the upcoming quarter (thereby announcing an end to the recession). The other big news this week came from the provincial government. They announced their plan to introduce a Harmonized Sales Tax (HST) and followed that up towards the end of the week by ending the interest free loan program for owners of leaky condos.

The News

August 1st, 2009 Leaky condo assistance dries up, Liberals say program is obsolete

July 31st, 2009 BC governments leaky condo program killed

July 29th, 2009 The laneway house: A novel solution to Vancouver’s real-estate crunch

July 29th, 2009 Harmonized tax will boost housing costs

July 28th, 2009 Vancouver’s glam, but don’t count out Calgary

July 28th, 2009 B.C. restaurant, real estate industries look to province for HST assistance

July 24th, 2009 B.C. reveals plan to merge sales tax with GST

July 23rd, 2009 Recession at an end: Bank of Canada

Please Donate

On June 22nd, 2009 I broke the record for the most ascents of the Grouse Grind for charity. The Royal LePage Shelter Foundation is an incredible organization which is there to help women and children suffering from domestic abuse. Of every dollar donated, 100% goes directly to those in need (Royal LePage covers all administrative costs of the charity).

Donate to the Royal LePage Shelter Foundation

More Info on Vancouver Real Estate

If you’d like to learn more about the Vancouver real estate market generally you can check out this page.

Are you thinking of buying or selling, or just have questions then you can contact me here or send me a quick email.

Copyright © 2009 Vancouver Real Estate in the Vancouver Real Estate Blog by Sebastian Albrecht, Vancouver Realtor with Royal LePage Vancouver ”Weekly Vancouver Real Estate News Roundup”

No related posts.

I recently provided an update on the BC government’s proposal to implement a Harmonized Sales Tax and it’s impact on the Vancouver real estate market. The HST was a surprise to us all. It’s unfortunate that the provincial government chose not to consult those of us directly impacted before announcing the tax.

The Announcement

The announcement of the HST was such a surprise that those affected are scrambling to respond. Both the BCREA and the REBGV are currently trying to figure out exactly how to respond and just what the impacts on the real estate industry are. I expect that we will be hearing more from our industry in the coming weeks on this topic.

If you are purchasing property in BC as of July 1st, 2010 you will have to pay the HST (12%) on new construction (although up to $400,000 will be exempt up to a maximum credit of $20,000). You will also have to pay the HST (12%) on realtor fees, appraisal fees, and home inspection fees. All of these costs were previously exempt from the PST (7%).

The Impact

Perhaps you think that this tax won’t affect you if you aren’t purchasing new construction. I believe that the implementation of the HST on new construction will affect the resale market as well. I expect that we will see resale prices rise approximately 7% in order to balance out with the costs of new construction once the HST is in place.

We were already paying a hefty provincial tax on purchasing property in British Columbia (the PTT which is 1% on the first $200,000 and 2% on the balance). Adding the PST to this tax (albeit only for new construction) only exacerbates the affordability issue in BC (and particularly in Vancouver).

Affordability is the biggest issue in the Vancouver real estate market. With the market just beginning to take off again, it’s nothing less than irresponsible for the Provincial government to impose this tax without at least consulting the industries directly affected.

The Response

The president of the BCREA, John Tillie, recently published this editorial about the HST in the Vancouver Sun.

Please Donate

On June 22nd, 2009 I broke the record for the most ascents of the Grouse Grind for charity. The Royal LePage Shelter Foundation is an incredible organization which is there to help women and children suffering from domestic abuse. Of every dollar donated, 100% goes directly to those in need (Royal LePage covers all administrative costs of the charity).

Donate to the Royal LePage Shelter Foundation

More Info on Vancouver Real Estate

If you’d like to learn more about the Vancouver real estate market generally you can check out this page.

Are you thinking of buying or selling, or just have questions then you can contact me here or send me a quick email.

Copyright © 2009 Vancouver Real Estate in the Vancouver Real Estate Blog by Sebastian Albrecht, Vancouver Realtor with Royal LePage Vancouver ”HST Will Result in Higher Vancouver Real Estate Costs”

No related posts.

The following is commentary from the BCREA (BC Real Estate Association) on the impact of the HST (Harmonized Sales Tax) on the BC real estate. It is reproduced here with permission of the BCREA.
________________________

Harmonized Sales Tax

On July 23, 2009, Premier Gordon Campbell and Finance Minister Colin Hansen announced that, effective July 1, 2010, BC will adopt a Harmonized Sales Tax (HST), combining the seven per cent Provincial Sales Tax (PST) with the five per cent federal Goods and Services Tax (GST) for a single sales tax rate of 12 per cent.An additional seven per cent tax will be charged on a variety of real estate related services, including commissions, appraisals and other services that are currently exempt, as well as adding thousands of dollars in additional costs to new home purchases.

Looking to offset the increase in costs, the Government of BC plans to offer a partial rebate of the provincial portion of the HST for new housing to ensure that new homes up to $400,000 will bear no more tax than under the current PST system, while homes above $400,000 will receive a flat rebate of about $20,000.

What does this mean for REALTORS®?

As proposed, the HST will increase the cost of buying or selling a home and becomes essentially an additional tax on home ownership. Under the HST, REALTOR® commissions will be subject to a 12 per cent tax, replacing the five per cent GST now charged.

New home sales over $400,000 will be dramatically impacted, as buyers will now have to pay an additional seven per cent tax (even with the $20,000 flat rebate). This will act as a disincentive to buyers of new homes in the short term.

Next steps

Although no consultation occurred before the announcement, BCREA is working on recommendations to keep the impact of the HST as neutral as possible with respect to housing attainability.

Please Donate

On June 22nd, 2009 I broke the record for the most ascents of the Grouse Grind for charity. The Royal LePage Shelter Foundation is an incredible organization which is there to help women and children suffering from domestic abuse. Of every dollar donated, 100% goes directly to those in need (Royal LePage covers all administrative costs of the charity).

Donate to the Royal LePage Shelter Foundation

More Info on Vancouver Real Estate

If you’d like to learn more about the Vancouver real estate market generally you can check out this page.

Are you thinking of buying or selling, or just have questions then you can contact me here or send me a quick email.

Copyright © 2009 Vancouver Real Estate in the Vancouver Real Estate Blog by Sebastian Albrecht, Vancouver Realtor with Royal LePage Vancouver ”Vancouver Real Estate and the HST (Harmonized Sales Tax)”

No related posts.