At the end of 2013, the sales to actives ratio in Vancouver East has reached 20% indicating a seller’s market and it started to have an upward press in home price.
In the middle of 2014, the ratio reached 20% in Vancouver West. At the beginning of 2015, Great Vancouver and Richmond’s ratios also increased to above 20%
In 2016, the ratios just keep increasing. Is there any sign of slowing down?
We are still seeing multiple offers everywhere this year.
It is all about SUPPLY and DEMAND.
For example, the “Total Active Listings” in April this year was 590 while it was 802 the same month last year. There has been 26.4% decrease of available homes for sale this year while the number of completed “Sales” stayed relatively the same as indicated in the table below.
It means this year, about the same number of buyers are fighting for less available homes especially for the single family homes. And this is why there are still multiple offers.
Now some people are being pushed out of the market for single family houses where the median sales price just reached $3,000,250, we seeing the sales to actives ratio for townhouses and condos are jumping much higher than single family homes.
See table below that the Sales/Active Ratio is 28% for detached houses, 49% for condos and 46% for townhomes. And the ratios have increased for the second month in a row for townhouses and apartments.
We asked real estate veterans who have experienced the many ups and downs of the real estate cycles, where is real estate price going in the near future?
They say to watch the Sales to Actives Ratio everyday. And if we see more and more price reductions, it may indicate that the market is slowing down. But so far, the Sales/Active Ratio is still very high showing a strong seller’s market and we are not seeing many price reductions yet.