Vancouver Real Estate Statistics - July 2021 - Wild Ride
It has been a wild ride for the Vancouver real estate market over the past year. In January 2020, after nearly 2 years of protracted price declines the market was ready for a rebound. January through March 2020 foretold a hot spring market. When the Covid-19 pandemic took centre stage in late March of 2020 the market stalled for about 6 weeks and then took up where it left off. Monetary (quantitative easing & low interest rates) and fiscal stimulus (direct wage subsidies, rent subsidies etc.) intended to add stability to the uncertain Covid-19 economy also poured "fuel on the fire" of real estate markets already ripe for price increases. It has been a hot market since then. Westside Months of Inventory (MOI*) fell and remained low throughout 2020. It has only begun to creep upwards beginning in May 2021. MOI for detached Westside homes sat at 6.72 months in a "balanced" market position. Both Attached homes and Apartments had MOIs below 5 months in June. Both are in "Seller's" market territory.
Sales volumes hit highs in spring of 2021 not seen since 2016
Vancouver Westside detached house active listing volumes rose significantly in 2021 as sellers tried to capitalize on the hot market.
Interestingly, Westside detached house prices have not reached their 2017 high points yet.
Vancouver Eastside sales prices did reach and exceed their 2017 high points. This split between Westside and Eastside price increases likely reflects the number of local end-user house purchases that took place this spring. The more affordable Eastside saw larger price increases as end-users clambered to buy homes. On the Westside the lower end of the market ($2.5-3.5m) saw significant activity while fewer higher cost homes sold and generally sold for less than their 2016/2107 values. In 2016/2017 the Westside house market was influenced by a significant amount of foreign capital. Implementation of new taxes and modification of existing taxes aimed at curbing the effects of foreign capital appear to be attaining their intended outcomes.
Looking forward it is likely that we will see the super hot market we have been experiencing begin to cool off. Based on past markets though, it is improbable that we will see another significant market decline in the near future.
By Sam Wyatt - Vancouver Realtor.
*Months of Inventory (MOI) is a measure derived from the number of active listings during a given month divided by the number of sales that month. It indicates the theoretical length of time it would take to sell all of the properties on the market if nothing changed. Historically, 0-5 months of inventory has generally implied upward price pressure ("Seller's Market"), 5-8 months of inventory has indicated a flat market with respect to pricing ("Balanced Market") and over 8 months of inventory has, for the most part, precipitated downward price pressure ("Buyer's Market").