North of the Fraser Residential Real Estate: August 2019 Infographic
The August stats are in from the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver and while sales are still lagging behind historical norms, there is momentum building as we head into the fall market.
While home sales were still 9.2% below the 10 year average, The 2,231 sales in August were a 15.7% increase over the same month last year. This relatively strong sales performance combined with a lack of new supply resulted in the overall sales to active listings ratio holding strong at 16.7% which represents what is considered to be a balanced market. The ratios for condos and townhouses were both higher than the average at 21.2% and 18.4% respectively, however, and prices could soon again be on the rise for those product types if inventories remain low.
Benchmark prices continued to decline for single family homes, with a moderate 0.7% drop from July, while apartments and townhomes both posted negligible price increases for the month. While the market for more affordable condo and townhouse product appears to be stable, the mortgage stress test continues to impact the affordability of single family homes and prices may need to adjust further in order for these homes to be attainable by local buyers.
What does this mean for development land north of the Fraser?
Despite the strong sales statistics for both July and August, developer sentiment about the market is still generally low and this has resulted in a shift in price expectations and a lack of competition for sites. Vendors of development land are slowly coming around to the reality of today’s land prices which has resulted in some deals coming together in our core markets north of the Fraser. This shift in vendor price expectation is allowing well capitalized groups to come off of the sidelines and grab market share in certain areas, which is a positive sign for the market as a whole. The fall stats will shed more light on whether we’ve hit the bottom and the policy “hangover” we are currently experiencing will soon come to an end, or if we need to settle into this new normal for the Vancouver real estate market.
Please note: areas covered by the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver include: Whistler, Sunshine Coast, Squamish, West Vancouver, North Vancouver, Vancouver, Burnaby, New Westminster, Richmond, Port Moody, Port Coquitlam, Coquitlam, Pitt Meadows, Maple Ridge, and South Delta.
View the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver’s entire stats package for August 2019 here.
This representation is based in whole or in part on data generated by the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver which assumes no responsibility for its accuracy.
