The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV) reported that home sales increased 46.3% in September 2019 from September 2018.
Compared to the same month last year, home inventory (home listed for sale) stayed relatively the same. As a result, we see the rise in overall Sales-to-Active listing ratio from the same month last year (see Table below).
| Sept 2019 | Sept 2018 | |
| Sales | 2343 | 1601 |
| Inventory | 13414 | 13800 |
| Sales-to-Active listing ratio | 17.4% | 11.6% |
REBGV president Ashley Smith said: “Home buyers are more willing to make offers today, particularly in the townhome and apartment markets.”
We started to see a downward trend in sales to active ratio since reaching a high point of 48% in May 2017. The ratio reached its lowest of 10% in January of this year and started to climb up slowly again (see graph below).
For all property types, the sales-to-active listings ratio for September 2019 is 17.4 per cent. By property type, the ratio is 12.7 per cent for detached homes, 18.9 per cent for townhomes, and 21.9 per cent for apartments:
Recently, we helped empty nesters sell their family home and downsize into a condo or townhouse. We helped couples sell their condo and move into a larger home because there’s a new member in the family. People want to move closer to their family/job. People are selling because of divorce/separation. These are all the common reasons why people buy and sell real estate. Business was as usual in the past few months.
Although sellers cannot expect to fetch higher and higher price as we’ve seen in the past couple years (see graph below for Average Sales Prices). Buyers on the other hands have more selection and time to make purchasing decisions.
The Federal Election is coming up in 2 weeks on Oct 21.
Check out the different parties’ platform on housing and other issues here: