The REBGV posted the following report on Friday, April 3, 2009 demonstrating a surge in house sales in March, 09.

VANCOUVER, B.C. The Metro Vancouver housing market experienced a movement away from volatility and toward stability to start the spring season.

Home sales in March 2009 returned to levels witnessed at the beginning of the decade, with 2,265 sales recorded across Metro Vancouver for the month, a 53 per cent increase over February but a 24.4 per cent decrease over March 2008, when 2,997 sales were recorded.

Since 1999, March sales have increased 31 per cent, on average, over the month of February. March 2009 marks the second consecutive month that sales have outperformed the ten-year average for this month-over-month comparison.

“There’s more confidence in the housing market today than we were seeing late last year. Sales activity is rising to more typical levels given the season, and the number of homes being listed for sale is levelling off,” said Scott Russell, president of the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver.

New residential listings on the MLS® declined 22 per cent in March 2009 to 4,385 compared to March 2008. This is the fifth month in a row that new listings have decreased year-over-year and the third consecutive month where those declines exceeded 20 per cent.

Despite these trends, total active listings at the end of March 2009 had still reached 14,579, a 19 per cent increase compared to the end of March 2008.

“REALTORS® are seeing an increasing level of interest from first-time buyers who are attracted to low interest rates, good supply of housing, greater affordability, and a considerably lower overall cost of servicing a mortgage compared to recent years,” Russell said.

Sales of detached properties in March 2009 declined 19.6 per cent to 897 from the 1,116 units sold during the same period in 2008. The benchmark price, as calculated by the MLSLink Housing Price Index®, for detached properties declined 15.1 per cent from March 2008 to $649,342.

Sales of apartment properties declined 28.8 per cent last month to 976, compared to the 1,370 sales in March 2008. The benchmark price of an apartment property declined 13.5 per cent from March 2008 to $337,099.

Attached property sales in March 2009 decreased 23.3 per cent to 392, compared with the 511 sales during the same month in 2008. The benchmark price of an attached unit declined 11.2 per cent between March 2008 and 2009 to $420,563.

For more information please contact:
Craig Munn, Assistant Manager of Communications
Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver
Phone: (604) 730-3146
E-mail: cmunn@rebgv.org

The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver reports that east-side condo prices are rising faster than anywhere else in their region thereby offering an affordable alternative to an address in False Creek or Coal Harbour.

The average price of a condo in March 2008 compared to the same month last year has risen by the following percentages:

Vancouver East, +14.9
Coquitlam, +12.7
Richmond, +12.7
Port Coquitlam, +11.8
South Delta, +11.6
Vancouver West, +11.5
Burnaby, +11.2
North Vancouver, +10.9
New Westminster, +10.0
Maple Ridge/Pitt Meadows, +5.3
Port Moody, +4.6
West Vancouver, +4.0

B.C. Finance Minister, Carole Taylor, has given first time home buyers a major boost by increasing the threshold at which they have to pay Property Transfer Tax (PTT) to $425,000 (formerly $375,000), subject to various conditions.

The details of the exemptions and thresholds can be found here:

http://www.sbr.gov.bc.ca/documents_library/bulletins/PTT_004.pdf

The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation expects the average single-family house price to reach $900,000 in Greater Vancouver in 2008 as an influx of new residents (expected to be around the 35,000 mark) and job creation (approximately 33,000) keep the city in a seller’s market. The CMHC further forecast that the region’s average price across all property types would rise by 9% from 2007 and would generate the demand for 18,500 new housing starts.

The Superintendent of Real Estate has introduced two new Policy Statements to further enhance consumer information and awareness and assist purchasers in understanding offerings of real estate developers. Beginning on November 1, 2007, Disclosure Statements filed under the Real Estate Development Marketing Act will require additional information regarding the terms of pre-sale agreements, the background of developers, and potential conflicts of interest.

The full text of the Information Bulletin can be found at http://www.fic.gov.bc.ca/pdf/real_estate/redma-07-03.pdf.

In an article in the Vancouver Sun, Derrick Penner writes that real estate sales across the Lower Mainland continued their upward trend throughout August defying early forecasts which called for moderation in the markets. The Multiple Listing Service recorded sales were up 12.9 per cent across Metro Vancouver compared with the same month a year ago, the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver said.

During August, 3,384 properties sold in Vancouver alone, with the average price for a single family home hitting $726,067, up 11.1 per cent from a year ago. “We’ve seen sales near record levels for three consecutive months despite the summer traditionally being a slower time for real estate in Greater Vancouver,” board president Brian Naphtali said in a news release.

It wasn’t just single family homes that enjoyed the increase, condo sales saw the biggest growth with 16 per cent more transactions at 1,504 compared with the same time last year. The average price for a typical condo was $367,944 in August, up 11 per cent from this time last year.

“The Canadian Real Estate Association revised its annual forecast for 2007 in August because the market so far this year has performed much stronger than they predicted it would,” said Jim McCaughan, president of the Fraser Valley Real Estate Board, an area which also demonstrated price increases.

However, Helmut Pastrick, chief economist for Credit Union Central B.C., said the resurgence in 2007’s real estate markets follows from a period in 2006 when sales had started to fade because of rising mortgage interest rates. “We did have a bump up in mortgage rates in mid-May,” Pastrick added, which might still result in declining sales. In any event, Pastrick said he expects overall sales in Greater Vancouver to end up higher than in 2006.

Cameron Muir, chief economist for the B.C. Real Estate Association, added that while prices across the Lower Mainland are up, their rate of increase has slowed considerably from the inflation seen in 2006. “Price growth has moderated, but not as rapidly as we had expected it to at the beginning of the year,” Muir said. He added that buyers who rushed in to use mortgages that they had pre-approved before May’s rate increases also helped bump up sales in recent months.

“It will be interesting to see what happens in the fall months in terms of this upward trend,” Muir said. “Is it going to continue?” Muir said buyers at the bottom end of real estate markets are being squeezed out, which is one of the biggest issues the region faces. At the top end though, Muir said those who have benefited from the economic prosperity of the times, and baby boomers who have seen significant equity gains, continue to drive sales.