OAKWYN REALTY

Market Stats: Residential Detached

February Was Cold For Sales and Weather

Low supply and snowy weather contributed to a decline in home sales for the month of February. Last month’s sales were 7.7% below the 10-year February sales average. Lack of new inventory and buyer hesitation had February’s figures at their lowest for that month since 2003 and overall home sales for Metro Vancouver were down 41.9% when compared to the unprecedented activity we saw in February 2016. Keep in mind one year ago I was reporting that homes were selling for close to $900,000 over asking in under a week. Yes, sales and overall listings are down from a year ago, but that was an unprecedented time in our real estate market.

According to Dan Morrison, Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver president, “While home sales are not happening at the pace we experienced last year, home seller supply is still struggling to keep up with today’s demand. This is why we’ve seen little downward pressure on home prices, particularly in the condominium and townhome markets.” 

North Vancouver reported a 42% decrease of units listed for the month over February 2016 and a fall in units sold from 159 in February 2016 to 88 in February 2017. Because of the lower number of listings and sales, gross sales were down 43% over February of last year. $275,825,102 worth of gross sales was reported for North Vancouver for February 2016 while $155,744,506 was reported for February 2017. However, benchmark price was up 12.6% from $1,382,000 to $1,556,600.

Similarly, West Vancouver recorded a 51% decrease in units.  February 2016 showed 241 units listed and February of this year had 116. Because of the lower volume of listings, the overall gross sales were down a dramatic 77% from $529,828,588 to $121,183,238. Buyers and sellers were still hesitant to make commitments in February as the units sold for the month were down 75% from 141 to just 35 in February 2017. Benchmark price did rise slightly 8.3% at $2,936,500 from $2,710,500.

Vancouver West saw a tumble in gross sales that directly corresponded with the decrease in units listed. February 2017 saw 166 units listed which was a 59% drop from one year ago when there were 412 units listed in February. Gross sales also were down 59% from $844,642,494 for February 2016 to $345,377,929 for February 2017.  Benchmark prices were up 13.9% from $3,003,800 to $3,422,700 which indicates that prices are holding during February.

Benchmark Price: Estimated sale price of a typical property, based on a set of common qualities of homes within each market.

Price Index (HPI): Index numbers estimate the percentage change in price on typical and constant quality properties over time. All figures are based on past sales.

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