July 2008 Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver Statistics

The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV) released the statistics package for July 2008 yesterday. The headline reads, “Month-over-month housing prices retreat from record highs”. The primary highlights are that sales are down 43.9 % (2,174 vs 3,873) and listings rose once more 24% (6,104 vs 4,924).

The big headline statistic is that housing prices are on the decline on a month-to-month basis. This won’t be new news to my readers, as I actually reported that some areas were seeing month-to-month declines in the past couple of months. Detached properties in Greater Vancouver declined 2.3%, attached were down 1% and apartment properties were down 2% from June to July, 2008. The overall benchmark price for all residential properties in Greater Vancouver declined 2.1% month over month, from $568,411 to $556,605.

“We’re seeing more price reductions in properties listed on the market, which is having a levelling impact on the housing price increases experienced at the end of last year and into the first quarter of 2008, “said REBGV president, Dave Watt. “There was a slight decline in the total active listings on the market in July compared to June, which is a welcomed departure from recent trends.”

Over the next few months, I believe that we’ll continue to see a decline in sales in the coming months. New listings will likely remain relatively flat or decline. Prices will likely continue to trend lower into the fall. As for the active listings, I think that this number will slow significantly and maybe even decline off of the highs that we saw in late spring and early summer.

Active listings should slow because I believe we’ll start to see a large number of listings taken off the market. Many of the excess listings will expire, or sellers seeing little movement on their property will decide to cancel their listings in hopes of selling in a stronger market.

As you can see from the numbers below, the statistics for Vancouver East are showing a little more strength than those for Vancouver West. Here are some further numbers from the month of July 2008. The numbers in brackets indicate the month-to-month change for that statistic:

Vancouver West
Sales: 439 (-11.85%)
Listings: 1300 (-6.54%)
Sell/List Ratio: 35.9% (-3.1)
Months Supply: 7.35
Active Listings: 3774 (+3.11%)

Vancouver East
Sales: 258 (-4.44%)
Listings: 657 (-5.47%)
Sell/List Ratio: 38.9% (-1.1)
Months Supply: 6.54
Active Listings: 1836 (+4.02%)

Sebastian Albrecht, Vancouver Realtor with Royal LePage Westside