North of the Fraser Residential Real Estate: March 2022 Infographic
March’s housing market statistics have been released from the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV) and compared to last spring’s historic pace, the market has seemingly calmed but still shows increased momentum over the last few months.
Putting aside the comparison to the feverish pace of last year, what March’s statistics really show is that we’re heading into an active spring season. Sales across all product types increased drastically yet again with townhomes leading the charge at a 32.7% increase, followed by detached homes and condos at 27.8% and 24.6% respectively. Similar to last month, the month-over-month increase seems substantial, but it’s important to note that the change year-over-year was a decrease across all product types (ranging from 14.3% to 34.3%).
The number of new listings also increased yet again, particularly for detached homes (22.6%) and condos (22.3%), followed by townhomes (19.8%). Even with this surge of listings, we’re still far away from a having an adequate level of supply in relation to demand and sales, and when compared to March last year the number of listings for condos, townhomes and detached homes were down 8%, 22.7% and 30.1% respectively. This shortage of supply has continued to put upward pressure on prices, causing the benchmark prices for all product types to increase yet again:
- Townhomes: $1,138,300 (4.4%)
- Detached Homes: $2,118,600 (3.6%)
- Apartment: $835,500 (3.4%)
What does this mean for the development land market?
As a result of the persistent rise in benchmark pricing, we can anticipate land prices to continue climbing, though at a slower rate than in the previous 12-18 months.
The development land market is still thriving, as developers work to keep their pipeline full of potential sites, moving their capital into new projects (both long and short term). However, between the increase in interest rates (and the 0.5% increase to the benchmark interest rate), political turmoil overseas, and foreshadowing of a possible recession, many buyers have loosened their grip on the trigger when writing on the more complex sites. With that in mind, sellers should expect to be slightly more flexible on their terms when entering into a contract as buyers consider the myriad of factors that cloud our economic and political future with a certain level of uncertainty.
Check out our curated summary of the Greater Vancouver Real Estate Board’s March Stats in our infographic below.
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 March 2022 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.
