Vancouver Realty Online

Vancouver Realty Online presents the May 2011 Vancouver Market Report from Inman News. We’re especially proud of our own Susan Keevil‘s contributions to the article!

Housing prices climb to global heights for latest Olympics host

Greater Vancouver housing sales cooled off in April after moving at a red-hot pace the previous two months.

Canada’s third-largest metropolitan area saw residential sales of single-family detached, attached and condominium properties decline 21 percent to 3,225 year-over-year, according to the latest report from the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver. Sales were off 8.2 percent from March. The board attributed the April sales decline to a slowdown in condo sales.

The board’s benchmark Housing Price Index for all residential properties rose to $622,991 in April, up 5 percent from $593,419. The benchmark represents the sales price of a typical property within the market and is considered a more accurate reflection of prices.

A sales spurt of multimillion-dollar homes in some parts of Vancouver skewed the average sales price of a home nationally, pushing it up to $372,544 in April, according to the Canadian Real Estate Association.

Please click HERE for the full article!

Vancouver Realty Online presents our Downtown Vancouver Market Update for the period running from January 25- February 2 courtesy susankeevil.com…

Downtown Attached Market Update January 25 – February 2 :

New listing numbers tailed off this past week after posting positive numbers in the two previous periods; we saw 213 new attached listings in Vancouver West this past week (compared to 273 in the previous week).  The downtown neighbourhood continued to account for just over half of the new listing supply with 114 new attached listings (down from 153 in the previous week) or 54% of total new attached supply over Vancouver West.

Please click HERE for the full article.

We are proud to present our Westside market reports for the period running from January 25 - February 2 courtesy susankeevil.com…

Westside Vancouver Attached Report January 25 – February 2 :

The Westside neighbourhoods continued to demonstrate strong sales trends this period as confirmed sales transactions posted higher average numbers for the third consecutive week.  Vancouver West as a whole saw 139 confirmed sales (compared to 83 in the previous week) with the Westside neighbourhoods accounting for 48 confirmed transactions or 36% of all attached sales in Vancouver West (up from 25 in the period running fom January 18th – January 25th).  Kitsilano continued to lead the way with 15 confirmed sales or approximately 31% of all Westside attached transactions. 

Please click HERE for the full article.

Westside Vancouver Detached Report Jan 25 - February 2 :

Despite strong demand in many areas (notably Dunbar, Point Grey, and Arbutus) our sales to listing ratio remains skewed towards the supply side with a sales to listings ratio of 37 : 84 or a 44% saturation rate. It is important to look at the placement of the sales activity, however; as we see outliers like South Granville where we witnessed 17 new detached listings to only 1 detached sale as buyers continue to focus on core markets, and are tentative to move further south from the city centre.

Please click HERE for the full article.

According to the B.C. Real Estate Association, much of the forward momentum for 2010/11 has been used up by the interest rate driven market improvements we saw in 2009:

B.C. real estate 2009 bounce-back to taper off this year, 2011

Muir characterized his forecast as 2009 ending with a “gold-medal finish, [which] will give way to a silver-medal performance in 2010.”

“Affordability is the biggest factor over the longer term,” Muir added in an interview, “because home prices in markets such as Victoria and Vancouver are trending on record levels, and mortgage rates are likely to edge higher at the end of this year and through 2011.”

“That’s going to increase the carrying cost of housing, and by extension, overall housing demand.”

Home carrying costs, the monthly mortgage payment, taxes and other fees saw a dramatic trim during the downturn that lasted through the last half of 2008 and first part of 2009, but Muir noted that that advantage is rapidly disappearing.

Please click HERE for the full article.