Dear Stuart,

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

Compared to the 10 year average, the westside supply was down 25% for detached homes, at the 10 year average for apartments (1244 v. 1247) and up 8% for townhomes.

Compared to the 10 year average, the westside demand was down 24% for detached homes, 29% for apartments and 50% for townhomes.

Median home prices in April are down 8.6% for detached homes (from the peak Oct.2017), 5.9% for apartments (peak Jan.2018) and 4.2% (peak Feb.2022) for attached homes.

The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV) says that residential property sales in the region decreased 16.5% to 2,741 in April from 3281 sales in April 2022. This is down 15.6% from the 10 year April sales average.

The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV) reported that the benchmark price for all residential properties in Metro Vancouver is $1,170,700 which is a 7.4% decrease from April 2022, and a 2.4% increase from last month.

The total number of properties currently offered for sale on the MLS system in Metro Vancouver is 8790, down 4.2% compared to 9176 in April 2022 and that is still 20.9% below the 10 year seasonal average of 11,117 listings.

What we’re seeing this year is near record low inventory levels creating competitive conditions where almost any level of demand translates to price increases despite higher interest rates. said Andrew Lis, REBGV’s director of economics and data analytics. Below average sales and slow listing activity suggests sellers are waiting for more favourable market conditions. 

Aggressive sellers, pricing sharply, are now getting lots of attention and offers over asking prices in many cases. Still, too many sellers are over optimistic regarding market price, particularly at the higher price ranges and those listings languish because the buyers are fewer and further between.

Notwithstanding the short supply and reduced demand, rates will still play a part in the pace of market activity and it is now more expensive and more difficult to get a mortgage, both factors inclined to slow the market down.

Rates only started to increase in April 2022 and we are now seeing a full year of their effect on the market. As those mortgage renewals come up and new borrowers have to qualify at the higher rates, we will see how that effects our market and prices.

March was the month of peak activity in 2022 @ 122 sales and we are 24% below that @ 93 sales for March 2023. April 2023 (93 sales) is equal to that pace (still 24% below the 10 year average) but the slow growth of inventory continues to push up prices.

Happy Mother's Day! 👩‍👧‍👧💓

Stay safe and healthy.

Best regards,

Stuart

The supply of westside detached homes in April was 491, down slightly from 503 in March and down 28.3% compared to 685 last year in April 2022. 

Sales of westside detached homes this April remained the same as Mar at 93 and were 2.2% higher than April 2022. This is 24% lower than the April ten year average of 123 sales.

Months of Supply, (MOS) in April is down 2.4% from last month to 5.3 from 5.4 in March and down 30% from April 2022. (A balanced market keeping prices relatively flat now appears to be 7 to 10 MOS). The April average price was unchanged from March at $4.087M and the median detached home price increased 1% to $3.515M. Current prices are down 9.9% on average & 8.6% on median from the peaks in Oct 2017 and Jul 2017. 

The highest sale price for a Westside detached home in April was $16M. It was on the market for 5 days before it sold. The lowest price was $1.875M. It was on the market for 7 days. Of the 93 sales, 22 received the asking price or more and 71 sold below the asking price.

Westside apartment supply was basically unchanged in April at 1244 from 1242 in March and was down 8.5% from April 2022. At the same time, demand increased 8% to 339 sales from 314 sales in March and this is down 27% from 465 sales in April 2022. Apartment sales are down 13% from the ten year average of 389sales.

MOS in April decreased 7% to 3.7 from 4 in March and this is up 26% from 2.9 in April 2022.

The average price in April increased 4% ($997 v $957K) from March 2023 and was down 7% from April 2022. The median price was down slightly (1%) from March ($828 v $835) and is down 7% from April 2022. Average prices are still down by 16.8% from the peak of $1.199M and median prices are down 5.9% from the peak in January 2018.

Westside townhouse supply increased 12% in April from March (236 vs 210), and was down 3% from April 2022 (244). Demand in April is down 24% from March (32 vs 42 sales) and down 45% from last April 2022 (32 v 58). Attached home sales are down 50% from the 10 year average of 64 sales.

With supply up and demand down, current MOS increased 48% to 7.4. That is up 75% from 4.2 in March 2022.

Townhouse average prices at $1.8411M in April were up 12% from March and were up 10% from $1.671M last April 2022. Median prices are up 11% from March (1.723M v 1.55M) and are up 5.4% from April 2022. The average price is down 1% from the peak of $1.854M in Nov. 2021. The median price is down 4.2% from the peak of $1.799M in February 2022.