Sales & New Listings Below Normal Levels During Spring Market
If you read last months report then you’re probably quite familiar with the growing trend of below normal sales and a total purge of new listings. The market continues to muddle it’s way through a foreign buyers tax, and a combination of confused market participants continue to buy and sell real estate, unsure of what to expect in the months ahead. Some areas appear to be getting hot again while certain price points remain ice cold. Let’s break it down.
Sales
Detached sales fell 38% year over year for REBGV and finished the month of April 13% below the 10 year average. As you’ll see in the chart below, it’s an incredible drop off from one year ago. Some areas performed better than others. Richmond for example only underwent a 25% drop in sales, and returned near the 10 year average. However, Vancouver West which is littered with multi million dollar homes continued to struggle, registering the fewest sales of any April on record in the past 10 years.
New Listings & Inventory
New listings continue to trend below healthy levels. For reasons unknown, sellers appear hesitant to list. New listings across REBGV dropped 28%. However, despite the drop off in new listings, inventory levels are slightly higher than last year. A paltry 0.3% for Vancouver West, while Vancouver East saw the biggest increase at 66%. REBGV inventory is up 9% year over year.
Sales to Actives Ratio
Vancouver East- 19%
Vancouver West- 18%
Richmond- 24%
Burnaby- 25%
REBGV- 25%
As you can see the detached market appears to be teetering on a balanced/sellers market. Again this varies by area and price point. We are seeing some detached homes receiving multiple offers and selling over asking price, while many less desirable homes are sitting idle for longer periods of time.
Prices
Your friendly reminder that average sales prices fluctuate monthly. We’ve seen a slight uptick in recent months. However, you’re definitely getting more bang for your buck than a year ago.
Summary
The detached market has come out of it’s winter funk and is moving quite well this spring. It appears the market has somewhat digested the foreign buyers tax. The sales/actives ratio is picking up, and days on market is dropping. With new listings remaining low and inventory levels barely budging this is beginning to put some pressure on prices. With that being said, these are normal seasonal fluctuations. The market tends to be the most active and liquid during the spring/early summer months.
