Metro Vancouver's residential real estate market stabilized in 2009's second quarter and is expected to climb by the end of the year, according to a new Royal LePage Real Estate Services survey.
Average housing prices have risen in the past three months, according to the survey. The average prices for a detached bungalow, a standard two-storey home and condominiums all rose slightly in the second quarter in Vancouver East, Vancouver West and North Vancouver from average prices in the first three months of 2009.
A standard two-storey in Vancouver East, for example, rose to $594,000 from $575,000. A detached bungalow in North Vancouver increased to $615,000 from $605,000, and a standard Vancouver West condo rose to $650,000 from $625,000. West Vancouver housing prices remained largely unchanged.
Housing prices in North Vancouver have been hardest hit by the downturn:
detached bungalows fell 15.2% in the past year to $615,000 from $725,000;
two-storey homes dropped 14.3% to $660,000 from $770,000; and
condominiums were down 13.4% to $290,000 from $335,000.
Condos in Vancouver East have declined the least. They dropped only 0.6% in the past year to an average $336,000 from $338,000.
The report said the average housing price region-wide is expected to rise slightly to $560,000 from the year-to-date average of $558,893 as inventories of available homes decline. To date, inventories are about 25% below what they were a year ago.
The modest gains in 2009 are projected to result in a 5.7% drop in the average house by year's end from the 2008 average of $593,767.