Despite an overall decline in August residential real estate sales in Metro Vancouver, many of the biggest markets reported increased sales from July’s low, according to data released Thursday by the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV).
The number of residential sales rose in the region’s biggest markets, including Vancouver, Richmond, Burnaby, Delta and New Westminster last month.
Increases in those communities were offset, however, by declines on the north shore and in the northeast portion of Metro Vancouver, in communities like the TriCities and Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows.
Overall, sales fell a further 2.4% from the significant declines in July, which is usually a strong month for residential sales.
Year-over-year, August’s sales were 36% lower from sales in August 2009, which was the second-highest number of units sold ever recorded in the region. While the REBGV noted sales were 40.4% above the number of sales in 2008, they were 34.9% below sales numbers in 2007, and 26.6% below sales in August 2006.
Despite the drop in sales activity, housing prices continued to increase. Benchmark prices for the three main categories of homes continued to rise year-over-year, increasing: