The Conference Board of Canada has yet to follow the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver’s (REBGV) lead and describe Vancouver’s housing market as a “buyer’s market.”
The conference board maintains the Vancouver housing market is “balanced.”
“It must be that the sales-to-listing ratio is balanced,” conference board spokeswoman Yvonne Squires told Business in Vancouver October 24.
Statistics Canada pinned the average new-home price decline in Metro Vancouver as the worst in Canada when it dipped 0.4% between August and September.
The conference board released a report October 24 showing that things were not much better for Metro Vancouver home re-sales. Those prices dipped 0.37% to $756,683 in September compared with $785,366 in August.
Squires said the conference board expects Vancouver home prices will rise more than 5% by next September.
The REBGV released statistics October 4 that indicated consistent increases in Metro Vancouver property listings and fewer sales during the summer months have creatd a buyer’s market.
Sales for detached, attached and apartment properties in Greater Vancouver (not including Delta, Surrey and Langley) finally rose in September, but the uptrend was a mere 1.2%, to 2,246, compared with September 2010.
Listings, in contrast, spiked 20.1% to 5,680 compared with September 2010.
Glen Korstrom
@GlenKorstrom