North of the Fraser Residential Real Estate: October 2021 Infographic
The housing market statistics for October have been released by the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver, and, as expected, the market momentum we saw this summer has continued into the Fall, which is driving increased demand for development land.
Residential home sales in the region were 22.4% above the 10 year average for October and up 11% month-over-month, however, if we zoom out, we see that they were down 5.2% when compared to October last year. With the BC government’s announcement of their intent to introduce legislation requiring a “cooling off period” for real estate transactions, it will be interesting to see where the market goes from here. This past month, however, has shown that benchmark pricing for detached homes, townhomes and condos continues to be robust. Prices were up 20.5%, 18.5% and 14.7% respectively when compared to the same month last year, and 1.2% when compared to September.
In October, we also saw the rate of home sales continue to outstrip supply. Active listings are far below what is typical for this time of year, and the pool of homes for sale is shrinking as the number of new listings coming to market is also far below average. Home prices are continuing to rise across the region as a result of this supply and demand dynamic. Rising fixed mortgage rates, along with the pending government legislation, will eventually help to dampen demand but this may be counteracted by population growth as immigration resumes. For the time being, sales are high and buyers with rate holds will be driven to find a home during the remainder of the year.
So What does this Mean for Development Land NORTH OF THE FRASER?
More groups are hunting for sites in the Tri-Cities, including developers who have been idle for a few years and are now looking to reinvest their money in the development land market. This means there is still a lot of interest in reasonably priced opportunities in the Tri-Cities, particularly in Burquitlam.
The buzz could be short-lived. During a hot market like we are experiencing, developers are prone to overbuying land, which leads to unrealistic permit approval schedules, forcing them to halt purchases while they work through applications with the city.
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 October 2021 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.
