North of the Fraser Residential Real Estate: September 2019 Infographic
September was the third straight month of strong sales statistics from The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver and it appears that the housing market is adjusting to the various cooling techniques implemented by both federal and provincial governments. Sales volume continued to inch closer to long term averages, while prices were down slightly month-over-month.
Sales totalled 2,333 for all product types, which was a 46.3% increase over the same month last year. While the increase is certainly good news, the 2,333 sales look somewhat paltry when compared to the 2,821 sales logged in September 2017, suggesting a market decline of roughly 20% from that peak.
Prices continued to moderate across all product types as detached homes were flat month-over-month and townhouses and condos both saw moderate declines of 0.6% and 0.4% respectively. Compared to September 2018, prices were down across all product types. Detached homes have seen the biggest decline of 8.6% year-over-year, followed by townhouses at 7.2% and condos at 6.5%.
What does this mean for development land north of the Fraser?
As we head into Fall, the market is showing signs of normalizing compared to the frenetic pace of 2016 and 2017. Year to date in our core markets north of the Fraser development land transaction volumes are down and the inventory of available opportunities is up. For the most part, developers are still taking a “wait and see approach” before committing to acquisitions as land values continue to decline, despite the promising MLS sales data. That being said, we continue to see deals come together where vendors of development land are being realistic about the realities of today’s land 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 September 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.
