Dear Stuart,

Westside detached home sales and listing activity in January continues to trend below the long term averages.

Compared to the 10 year average, the westside supply was down 19% for detached homes, up 9% for apartments and up17% for townhomes.

Compared to the 10 year average, the westside demand was down 62% for detached homes, 36% for apartments and 35% for townhomes.

Median home prices in January are down 10.9% for detached homes (from the peak Oct.2017), 7.8% for apartments (peak Jan.2018) and 4.1% (peak Feb.2022) for attached homes.

The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV) says that residential property sales in the region decreased 55.3% to 1,022 in Jan. from 2285 sales in Jan 2022. This is a 21.1% decrease from the 1295 homes sold in Dec. 2022 and down 42.9% from the 10 year January sales average.

The total number of properties currently offered on the MLS® system in Metro Vancouver is 7478, up 32.1% compared to 5,663 in Jan. 2022 and up 1.3% from 7,384 last month.

The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV) reported that the benchmark price for all residential properties in Metro Vancouver is $1,111,400 which is a 6.6% decrease from Jan. 2022, and 0.3% down from last month.

"The Bank of Canada’s decisions to increase the policy rate at seven of the eight interest rate announcement dates in 2022 has translated into downward pressure on home sale activity and, to a lesser extent, home prices in Metro Vancouver,” said Andrew Lis, REBGV’s director of economics and data analytics. “While the consensus among many economists and forecasters suggests the Bank of Canada may be near the end of this tightening cycle, rates may remain elevated for longer than previously expected since the latest inflation figures aren’t showing signs of abating quickly.” 

Rates went up by only half a point in January so it will be interesting to see if buyers and sellers have adjusted to the higher borrowing costs and are participating more actively in the market than we have seen over the last 12 months. 

Rates only started to increase in April 2022 and we have not seen a full year of their effect on the market. As those mortgage renewals come up and new borrowers have to qualify at the new higher rates, we will see how that effects our market and prices.

The consensus among many economists and forecasters is that the Bank of Canada is at or near the peak of interest rate increases which inclines many sellers to hold on until demand built on factors like population growth can start to push up prices again.

Happy Valentine's Day! ❤️💄💋

Stay safe and healthy.

Best regards,

Stuart

The supply of westside detached homes in January was 477, down 5.5% from 505 in December and down 7% compared to 514 last year in January 2022. 

Sales of westside detached homes this January decreased 34% from Dec (25 vs 38) and were 61% lower than January 2022. This is 62% lower than the January ten year average of 66 sales.

Months of Supply, (MOS) in January is up 44% from last month to 19.1 from 13.3 in December and up 138% from January 2022. (A balanced market keeping prices relatively flat now appears to be 7 to 10 MOS). The January average price was up 25% from December at $4.393M and the median detached home price increased 5.1% to $3.43M. Current prices are down 3.2% on average & 11% on median from the peaks in Oct 2017 and Jul 2017. 

The highest sale price for a Westside detached home in January was $12M. It was on the market for 456 days before it sold. The lowest price was $2.21M. It was on the market for 2 days. Of the 25 sales, 1 received the asking price or more and 24 sold below the asking price.

Westside apartment supply decreased 1% in January to 1122 from 1130 in December and increased 6% from the 1057 listings we had in January 2022. At the same time, demand decreased 21% to 150 sales from 190 sales in December and this is down 55% from 332 sales in January 2022. Apartment sales are down 36% from the ten year average of 234 sales.

MOS in January increased 25.8% to 7.5 from 5.9 in December and this is up 135% from 3.2 in January 2022.

The average price in January decreased 5.9% ($935 v $993K) from December 2022 and was down 8.3% from January 2022. The median price was down 2.1% from December ($812 v $829) and is down 5.4% from January 2022. Average prices are still down by 22% from the peak of $1.199M and median prices are down 8% from the peak in January 2018.

Westside townhouse supply decreased 4% in January from December (204 vs 213), and was up 13% from January 2022 (204 v 181). Demand in January is up from December (20 vs 15 sales) and down 59% from last January 2022 (20 v 49). Attached home sales are down 35% from the 10 year average of 31 sales.

With supply down and demand up, current MOS decreased 28% to 10.2. That is up 176% from 3.7 in January 2022.

Townhouse average prices at $1.823M in January were up 11% from December and were up 14% from $1.604M last January 2022. Median prices are up 12% in January from December (1.725M v 1.547M) and are up 8% from January 2022. The average price is down 1.6% from the peak of $1.854M in Nov. 2021. The median price is down 4.1% from the peak of $1.799M in February 2022.