Balanced conditions continue in the Greater Vancouver housing market

 

Balanced conditions continue in the Greater Vancouver housing market

Home buyer and seller activity continues to mirror historical averages in the Greater Vancouver housing market. These trends have helped keep the region in a balanced state for the last nine months.

The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver reports that residential property sales in Greater Vancouver reached 2,661 on the Multiple Listing Service® (MLS®) in October 2013. This is a 37.8 per cent increase compared to the 1,931 sales recorded in October 2012, and a 7.2 per cent increase from the 2,483 sales recorded in September 2013.

New listings for attached, detached and apartment properties in Greater Vancouver totaled 4,315 in October 2013. This represents a 0.2 per cent decline from the 4,323 new listings reported in October 2012, and a decrease of 14.2 per cent compared to the 5,030 new listings reported in September of this year.

Last month’s sales were 2.8 per cent above the 10-year sales average for the month, while new listings for the month were 1.9 per cent below the 10-year average.

“We continue to see fairly typical activity when it comes to monthly home sale and listing totals,” Sandra Wyant, REBGV president said. “Today’s activity is helping to keep us in balanced market territory, which means that prices tend to experience minimal fluctuation.”

The total number of properties currently listed for sale on the MLS® in Greater Vancouver is 15,257, a decline of 12.2 per cent compared to this time last year, and a decline of 5.3 per cent compared to September 2013.

 

 

The sales-to-active-listings ratio is currently at 17.4 per cent in Greater Vancouver.

The MLS® Home Price Index composite benchmark price for all residential properties in Greater Vancouver is $600,700. This represents a 0.5 per cent decline compared to this time last year.

Sales of detached properties reached 1,067 in October 2013, an increase of 35.1 per cent from the 790 detached sales recorded in October 2012 and a 9.5 per cent increase from the 974 units sold in October 2011. The benchmark price for detached properties decreased 0.5 per cent from October 2012 to $922,600.

Sales of apartment properties reached 1,098 in October 2013, an increase of 36.7 per cent compared to the 803 apartment sales recorded in October 2012, and an increase of 14.6 per cent compared to the 958 sales in October 2011. The benchmark price of an apartment property decreased 0.9 per cent from October 2012 to $365,600.

Attached property sales totaled 496, an increase of 46.7 per cent compared to the 338 attached property sales recorded in 2012 and a 29.8 per cent increase compared to the 382 attached property sales recorded in October 2011. The benchmark price of an attached property is $458,000, which is virtually unchanged from October 2012.

Complete Report:    http://issuu.com/annaasi/docs/rebgv_stats_package__october_2013

 

Cat: REBGV Report October 2013

Job growth to sustain Vancouver housing market in 2014

Job growth to sustain Vancouver housing market in 2014

A pick up in B.C.’s economy next year and the associated increases in jobs will bolster B.C.’s residential real estate market in 2014.

According to the latest housing market outlook released October 31 by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. (CMHC), existing home sales are expected to rise 8% next year with the average price on the Multiple Listing Service forecast to edge up 1% in 2014.

In its report, the CMHC said demand for homes next year is “expected to ride the momentum of a rebounding market and post some positive gains.”

The improving market will be based on improved economic prospects for the province next year stemming from increased demand for B.C. goods from the province’s key export markets.

That is expected to bolster B.C.’s job market which is forecast to see a 1.5% increase in employment next year after marginal growth in 2013. After flat migration growth this year, an increase in the number of people migrating to B.C. should also boost demand for homes next year.

Housing starts, however, aren’t expected to rise substantially in 2014. The CMHC is forecasting 18,200 of new housing units this year and 18,400 units in 2014.

The relative glut of new, unoccupied homes is the main reason for the muted increase in activity over the next year. As of the end of September, there were 3,961 new housing units yet to be occupied, a 28% increase from the amount available a year ago.

Mortgage rates are expected to rise marginally next year, but CMHC suggested lending rates will remain “supportive” for the housing market given rates remain low by historical standards.

By the end of 2014, CMHC is forecasting the one-year posted mortgage rate to rise 0.25% from 2013 levels to between 3.25% and 3.75%, and the five-year posted mortgage rate to rise to between 5.25% to 6% from between 5% and 5.50% in 2013.

Courtesy of Business Vancouver

Vancouver’s house prices still climbing

Vancouver’s house prices still climbing

Prices for single-family houses in Vancouver are on the rise again as the affordability gap widens between detached homes and multifamily units.

On Vancouver’s West Side neighbourhood, the benchmark price index last month for detached homes reached $2,086,800, up 1.2 per cent from October, 2012. On the city’s East Side, prices rose 1 per cent to $850,500.

Over the past five years, prices for West Side detached properties have surged 45.3 per cent while they have jumped 35.2 per cent on the East Side, according to statistics released Monday by the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver.

For Greater Vancouver as a whole, including suburbs such as Burnaby and Richmond, single-family detached prices climbed 24.4 per cent to $922,600 over the past five years. By contrast, prices for townhouses rose 7.8 per cent to $458,000 while condo prices increased 4.5 per cent to $365,600.

The Vancouver region’s single-family detached homes are on track to get ever-more expensive in the long term, while price hikes for townhouses and condos are forecast to be restrained by increased supply for those multifamily developments, said Cameron Muir, chief economist at the B.C. Real Estate Association.

“In the long term, single-family detached homes are going to become an increasingly smaller proportion of the housing stock becau se we’re building 80 per cent of new homes that are townhouses or condominiums,” Mr. Muir said.

“Over time, the housing stock will be shifting toward multifamily. Single-family detached homes are going to be a smaller proportion of the total number of homes in the marketplace. As such, theory tells us that prices of those particular home types are going to get bid up relative to the other ones because they are an increasingly finite and scarce resource,” he said.

October sales for detached homes, townhouses and condos in Greater Vancouver climbed 37.8 per cent from the same month last year as the real estate market finds its balance. There were 2,661 resale properties that changed hands last month on the Multiple Listing Service, up from 1,931 sales in October, 2012.

The increased activity marks the sixth consecutive month that Greater Vancouver has experienced a year-over-year gain in monthly sales, following a 19-month slump in volume.

Hani Lamman, vice-president of development and acquisitions with Cressey Development Group, said the City of Vancouver is facing opposition from long-time residents in historic neighbourhoods as civic politicians seek to encourage builders to pack more housing units onto lots traditionally zoned single-family detached.

Land is precious within the City of Vancouver due to mountains to the north and the ocean to the west, Mr. Lamman said. While it will be a slow process, Cressey intends to build townhouses and condos in the East Side neighbourhood that includes Commercial Drive, assuming city hall officials are able to rezone the area to make it easier to construct townhouses, row houses and condos.

Housing sales over the past six months look rosy when comparing the figures with last year’s slump. In July, 2012, Ottawa reduced the maximum period on government-backed mortgages to 25 years from 30 years, a move that contributed to the slowdown in housing sales and drop in prices in the second half of 2012 and early 2013. On Vancouver’s West Side in March this year, for instance, single-family detached prices were down 9.1 per cent, compared with the same month in 2012.

The sales volume in Greater Vancouver last month was 2.8 per cent above the 10-year sales average for October, said board president Sandra Wyant. Greater Vancouver’s MLS home price index for single-family detached houses, townhouses and condos was $600,700 last month, or a 0.5-per-cent decline from the same period in 2012. There were a total of 15,257 active listings last month, down 12.2 per cent from a year earlier.

VANCOUVER — The Globe and Mail

Published Monday, Nov. 04 2013

New home construction could be a ‘real grind’ for Metro Vancouver in 2014

New home construction could be a ‘real grind’ for Metro Vancouver in 2014

 

The new home industry can expect 2014 to be a “real grind” as impending municipal elections in Metro Vancouver could slow down the rate of approval for new housing projects, Vancouver real estate guru Michael Ferreira said Thursday.

  Ferreira warned a meeting of the Urban Development Institute to expect “to see more of this,” and he showed a slide of a protest signs that can be seen around Marpole in South Vancouver saying “Stop Marpole Rezoning.”

  The signs are protesting the city’s proposed housing densification of the Marpole neighbourhood.

“In terms of supply of new homes, I think we will continue to see it constrained — especially over the next year. One of the biggest reasons is the municipal elections coming up in 2014.

  “I think those on council and those people seeking re-election will be loathe to make any kind of controversial decision (on new housing),” said Ferreira, who is a principal of the Vancouver company Urban Analytics.

“So it really freezes our market and, for those politicians who wax on about wanting to provide affordable product, it doesn’t help if we go a year without adding more supply,” Ferreira said.

  “As an industry I think we are going to have to work a lot harder to show people in neighbourhoods that we are working with them,” he said.

In his overall assessment of the new housing market this year, Ferreira said it has been a lot like the weather.

  “It’s been a bit hard to figure out — a bit tough to see through the fog in some places — but certainly some bright spots,” he said.

As an example, he pointed to concrete condominium sales levels, which were higher than he had expected.

  Ferreira said 4,253 units had been sold in Metro so far this year, compared to 2,546 to the same date in 2012. Bright spots included Richmond, with 878 concrete condos sold this year, and the Tri-cities (Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam, Port Moody), with nearly 500 concrete condos sold to date, a 74-per-cent increase over last year.

  However, Metro’s wood-frame condominium sales were “not quite as good,” with 1,832 sold so far in 2013, compared to 2,502 to the same date in 2012. Townhomes showed a similar trend.

 

© Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun

Cat: Vancouver Real Estate

Vancouver home sales rebound with 64-per-cent upturn

Vancouver home sales rebound with 64-per-cent upturn

 

Housing sales surged 63.8 per cent in Greater Vancouver last month as the area’s real estate market regains its footing.

There were 2,483 homes sold on the Multiple Listing Service in September, up from 1,516 sales in the same month last year, the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver said Wednesday. “There is a lot more confidence in the Vancouver market now,” board president-elect Ray Harris said in an interview.

The increased activity marks the fifth consecutive month that Greater Vancouver has experienced a year-over-year gain in monthly sales, following a 19-month slump in volume.

Greater Vancouver’s benchmark index price for single-family detached homes, condos and townhouses fell 0.7 per cent year-over-year to $601,900 last month, but has increased 2.3 per cent since January.

In Vancouver’s closely watched west side, the index price for single-family detached sales last month was $2,089,700, up $1,000 from September, 2012. While that is an increase of only 0.05 per cent, it marks an improvement from January, when the West Side’s detached index price dropped 7.5 per cent year-over-year.

A balanced market has emerged, with buyers in a calm state of mind instead rushing to do deals, Mr. Harris said. On the selling side, baby boomers thinking of downsizing by listing their detached homes aren’t hurrying to move since prices are expected to be relatively healthy, he said.

The total number of active listings on the MLS was 16,115 last month in Canada’s most expensive housing market, down 12.2 per cent from a year earlier.

Mr. Harris said Greater Vancouver’s resale housing prices could increase roughly 3 per cent over the next 18 months to two years – a stable outlook that should contribute to sales volume staying near historical averages. Last month’s sales were 1 per cent below the 10-year average of 2,509 for September.

The sales-to-active-listings ratio was 15.4 per cent in Greater Vancouver last month. B.C. real estate agents consider it a balanced market when the ratio ranges from 15 to 20 per cent.

Vancouver’s West Side has seen its index price for single-family detached homes jump 40 per cent over the past five years, but suburbs such as Port Coquitlam haven’t undergone such volatility, Mr. Harris added. Port Coquitlam’s detached property index price is up 6.3 per cent over the past five years.

As well, the region’s condo market hasn’t experienced huge price gains. Greater Vancouver’s condo prices have risen 1.9 per cent since 2008. Sales jumped 32 per cent last month in the Fraser Valley, which includes the sprawling and less-expensive Vancouver suburb of Surrey.

There were 1,131 properties that changed hands on the MLS, up 32 per cent from 857 sales in September, 2012. Last month’s benchmark index price in the Fraser Valley slipped 0.2 per cent year-over-year to $428,400.

Fraser Valley Real Estate Board president Ron Todson said he sees signs of first-time buyers returning to the market, though it has become more expensive to obtain financing due to the recent rise in mortgage rates. The residential property market is gradually recovering from Ottawa’s tightening of mortgage rules in 2012, he said.

In July, 2012, Ottawa reduced the maximum period on government-backed mortgages to 25 years from 30 years. Real estate experts say the change, which knocked some first-time buyers out of the market, contributed to the slowdown in housing sales a year ago.

Courtesy of The Globe and Mail

Cat: Vancouver Real Estate