Trading Up in a Down Vancouver Real Estate Market

The Background

As I mentioned in an earlier post, the current Vancouver real estate market is the ideal market for trade up real estate buyers. I’ve received some inquiries from you readers asking me to explain exactly what I mean. Of course, as a Vancouver realtor I’m happy to oblige answering any and all of your Vancouver real estate questions.

Your wish is my command.

The Situation

Let’s take a situation where someone is currently living in a small one bedroom condo in East Vancouver. The owners are having a child and need a larger home as a result. They’d like to buy a two bedroom condo in Grandview (Commercial Drive).

The Details

The Vancouver real estate market peaked in March, 2008. So, we’ll compare our example scenario from March, 2008 to today. Let’s say that the market declined exactly 12% in this time period.

$300,000 x 88% = $264,000 (-$36,000)
$450,000 x 88% = $396,000 (-$54,000)

Home A (the current home) was worth $300,000 before the decline. Home B (the desired home) was worth $450,000. The 12% decline hits both homes equally resulting in Home A now being worth $264,000 and Home B $396,000.

The Bottom Line

$54,000 – $36,000 = $18,000 found money!

The difference in the price variation between Home A ($36,000) and Home B ($54,000) is $18,000 in the buyers pocket.

That’s real money. Our young example couple would actually be able to cover the costs of their move from the savings of trading up in the down Vancouver real estate market (real estate fees, lawyer’s fees, moving costs) and be in their perfect new home.

One More Thing

Not only is our young couple saving money, they are also more likely to find the home that they want in this market. There are lots of choices and you have the luxury of finding the right home for you in this market. That’s not a luxury you’d have in a seller’s market.

Right now we have a lot of homes for sale in Vancouver. Listings piqued in September and they’ve been coming down since (something that needs to happen for the Vancouver real estate market to stabilize). Who knows how much longer this situation will be ideal for the trade up buyer?

Want to Trade Up?

If you are considering trading up, thinking of buying or selling, or just have questions, contact me here or send me a quick email.

More Info on Vancouver Real Estate

Should you want to learn more about the Vancouver real estate market generally you can check out this page. You can also review all of the statistics for Vancouver East and Vancouver West broken down for you here:

Enjoy Vancouver real estate statistics? You can find all of the latest stats by area right here: