Vancouver Real Estate Sales Are Back, But Prices Still Falling From Peak

Greater Vancouver real estate sales are returning to pre-pandemic levels, but it’s not quite the same. Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV) data shows June sales are almost at last year’s levels. Despite the increase, new listings are hitting the market at such a rapid pace, prices are actually falling further from the peak.

Greater Vancouver Real Estate Prices Peaked In March

The price of a typical home across Greater Vancouver is higher than last year, but down from a month before. The benchmark price of all home types reached $1,025,300 in June, up 3.5% from last year. In the City, Vancouver East saw the benchmark reach $1,083,300, up 5.0% from last year. Vancouver West is also higher with prices reaching $1,272,400, up 4.9% from last year. Important to note that all three of these markets are lower in price from the month before.

Greater Vancouver Composite Benchmark Price

The price of a typical home across Greater Vancouver, in Canadian dollars.

Source: REBGV, Better Dwelling.

Since the start of the pandemic, prices have actually been falling – just not as fast as they were last year. All three numbers above are lower than they were the month before, with annual prices peaking in March. The all-time high for home prices was in June 2018, and prices are down 7.16% from then – an even bigger drop from the month before. It’s not incredibly straight forward, but not overly complicated either. Higher growth because prices aren’t falling as quickly as last year, but prices are getting further from the peak a couple years ago.

Greater Vancouver Composite Benchmark Price Change

The annual percent change of a typical home across Greater Vancouver.

Source: REBGV, Better Dwelling.

Greater Vancouver Real Estate Sales Are Nearly At Last Year’s Levels

Greater Vancouver real estate sales bounced and are moving towards normal volumes, but are still far away. REBGV reported 2,443 real estate sales in June, up 64.51% from a month before. This represents a 17.62% increase compared to the same month last year. Last year was one of the slowest June’s on record though, and sales were still 21.9% below the 10-year average for the month. The increase may sound a little more impressive than it seems.

Greater Vancouver Composite Sales Vs. Listings

The number of homes sold vs total inventory in Greater Vancouver.

Source: REBGV, Better Dwelling.

Inventory Is Low, But Sellers Are Returning In Full Force

Greater Vancouver is seeing a substantial increase of new listing activity. REBGV reported 5,787 new listings in June, up 57.1% from the same month last year. This represents an increase of 21.8%, when compared to the same month last year. The rise in new listings is somewhat surprising, considering how quickly it has jumped since the beginning of the pandemic.

The bump in new listings didn’t quite make up for the slow listing activity over the past couple of months. REBGV reported 11,424 active listings in June, up 15.1% from a month before. This represents a decline of 23.7% when compared to the same month last year. Much higher than the previous month, but didn’t make up for the lack of inventory earlier this year.

Greater Vancouver real estate sales returned close to last year’s numbers, but with very different dynamics. New sellers are piling in, and despite low inventory – new inventory is hitting the market at a pace preventing prices from rising. In fact, prices have been sliding further, continuing a second wave of lower prices started in 2018. The CMHC had forecasted lower prices as a result of inventory rising into the second half, and so far that’s the setup people are looking at.

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  • Reply
    Mortgage Guy 4 years ago

    Why would international students move to BC when university’s online, and they can be close to their family during a global crisis?

    • Reply
      Mike 4 years ago

      They move here because it’s a side door to Canada for permanent residency.

      The deal is they pay more than double the tuition costs and in return they receive 6 months work visa for every year they study full time. It’s a great deal if you are a post secondary institution, but not so great if you are out of a job and need to compete with more job seekers who will accept lower wages.

      Hopefully we keep CERB indefinitely, cause international students and temp foreing workers program won’t be politically possible with 11% unemployment and importing cheap labour and bypassing the available labour pool requesting higher wages.

      Trump has already told international students they can’t stay if their classes are online only, and I think Canada should consider the same policies.

      • Reply
        Andrew 4 years ago

        Keeping CERB indefinitely? Are you joking? Do you know who pay for the CERB in the end?

        There are people in need of it but there are more than a few who should not be on CERB. They should be track down by the government so the laziness can be stop. There’s no free lunch in this world.

  • Reply
    zalzon 4 years ago

    There is a entire immigration “industry” who’s jobs are based on bringing in more immigrants whether the country needs them or not.

    Corporations need them to flood the job market and suppress wages of Canadian workers. Real estate builders, agents and flippers need to sell them over-priced homes. Universities need to sell them seats. Banks need to indenture them into life long debt (and dump their losses on taxpayers if they default on mortgages & loans). Immigration lawyers need to collect fees. Govt needs to milk taxes from them to pay people higher up in the pyramid scheme.

    There’s a whole ecosystem who’s job has come to depend on this and nothing but this.

  • Reply
    Fidel 4 years ago

    Can you do a write up on the UBI Program the Libs are proposing? Would be good to get some informed critical insight from economists.

    • Reply
      fidel 4 years ago

      Also something on the Modern Monetary Theory which is being used to justify endless money printing. Thoughts on a financial reset and a gold based system?

      • Reply
        straw walker 4 years ago

        This theory of debt expansion and endless immigration to expand our economy is now coming to a point of no return.
        Keynesian theory has long been passed by to what the BOC see’s as endless debt expansion.
        The consequences await us.. huge inflation and a collapsing CDN dollar ..
        But first we will have to go through a contracting economy as personal debt has to be restructured and absorbed..

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