REBGV released a report today “Competition continues to drive Metro Vancouver’s housing market.”
Buyers are actively looking for homes this summer, contrary to the usual slow down during summer holidays. Between June and August, sales were 25% to 30% above the 10-year average.
The sales-to-active-listings ratio in August was 30.9%. This is the 6th consecutive month that this ratio has been above 30% (indicating a seller’s market) in Metro Vancouver.
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In Vancouver West, the median single family home sales price has increased to $2,650,500 in July from $2,632,000 in June 2015. For different property types, the number of days on the market are around 18 to 19 days across the board which means the homes are on the market for about a week before they have accepted offers. In addition, the sold price is around 97% to 98% of asking price.
In Vancouver East, we are seeing an even hotter seller’s market with Sales-to-Active Ratio around 28% to 41%. For single family houses, the median sales price are 100% of asking price and on the market for 10 days before it’s sold. So the houses are one the market Friday, open house during weekend, and accepting offers on Monday (likely multiple offers), then sold after the 7-day subject period.
We had the discussion whether China’s stock market plunge will affect Vancouver’s real estate market. Our conclusion is that when stock market is not performing well, people like to move money into real estate and since the currency exchange rate is advantageous to move money from China to Vancouver, people may consider Vancouver real estate a safe haven.