North of the Fraser Residential Real Estate: June 2020 Infographic
The June MLS statistics from the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver indicate a return to normalcy as buyers and sellers of Vancouver real estate acclimate to the new realities of doing business in 2020.
Sales were up substantially year-over-year and month-over-month for all product types in June. There were 858 detached home sales, which is a 15% increase over the 746 homes that traded in June of 2019. Condo sales increased along similar lines at 17.4% and townhouses led the way with an increase of 21%.
The available inventory of homes on the MLS has not kept up with demand throughout the pandemic as many vendors have been reluctant to list their properties. While the situation improved slightly in June compared to May, the number of available properties on the MLS is still down considerably from last year. At the end of the month, the number of detached homes listed was down approximately 33% while townhouse and condo listings were down by 24.2% and 13.2% respectively.
Surprisingly, the dearth of homes available on the market did not result in HPI price increases for multi-family product in June, with apartments and townhomes both seeing modest declines. Detached homes did see a 0.5% increase in HPI price however, which could be a sign that the rest of the market is set to see price increases as well. Another indicator of future price increases could be the dramatic spike in the sales to active listings ratios, which saw huge increases for all product types month-over-month and are now either in or quickly approaching seller’s market territory.
So What Does This Mean For The Development Land Market North Of The Fraser?
Despite the numerous challenges at present, we are seeing increased buyer activity for development land in our core markets North of the Fraser. Well located townhouse and wood frame condo/apartment sites are at the top of many buyer’s wish lists and several sites have benefitted from the increased interest and received multiple offers.
As mentioned in previous months, high density condo sites are receiving less interest than in previous years, mostly due to rising concerns around the number of units already in the development pipeline in some municipalities. Buyers of these kinds of sites are concerned about slow pre-sale absorption and, as such, vendors of high-density development land can expect lower offer prices with less favourable terms right now.
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 June 2020 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.
