Market confidence and expected economic improvements are likely to contribute to an increase in Vancouver real estate prices, according to a Royal LePage house price survey.
Vancouver prices are expected to increase an average 7.2% in 2010 following a buoyant market recovery during the last few months of 2009. Detached bungalows in Vancouver sold for an average of $828,750 in the fourth quarter, up 11.4% in the same period in 2008. Standard condominium prices increased 11.8% to $452,750 and a standard two-storey home rose 9.6% to $917,500.
Market activity will likely be slow in the lead up to the Olympic Games in February, but is expected to surge in the Lower Mainland by the spring, the report said.
Nationally, Canada's residential real estate market is expected to remain unusually strong through the first half of 2010 as economic conditions improve and low interest rates continue to stoke demand.