When the housing market essentially re-opened in June following the lockdowns, there was a narrative going around about pent-up demand. At the time it was hard to justify the strong recovery in sales, surely it must have been a case of pent-up demand that would soon fade once these buyers from the spring pulled the trigger in the summer. Well, here we are now in November and sales are still going strong. At what point does the narrative shift from pent-up demand to housing boom? I’ll stop short of calling it a new bull market, but there are certainly shades of 2016 emerging. Buyers looking for single family homes are witnessing line-ups around the block for open houses, bidding wars, and the return of subject free offers. In October, 30% of single family houses in Greater Vancouver sold over the asking price. That’s the highest percentage since June, 2017.