Housing prices in Vancouver have increased more than anywhere else in Canada this year, according to Royal LePage's latest quarterly house price survey.
The price for the average detached bungalow in Vancouver has increased 21.8% to $906,045 in the first quarter of 2010 when compared with the same period in 2009.
Standard two-storey houses saw a 19.2% price increase to $987,500, while condominiums rose 15.7% to $470,500 for the same year-over-year comparison.
The survey also said first quarter housing sales in Vancouver nearly doubled in 2010 compared with last year, and Victoria witnessed similar growth where the average price of detached bungalows was up 12.9% to $511,400.
But Vancouver is a national anomaly.
"In Vancouver the dramatic unit sales fluctuations exhibit a a significant degree of market irrationality: inordinately fearful when faced with poorer markets, and overly enthusiastic when the tables turned," said Phil Soper, president and CEO of Royal LePage Real Estate Services.
By comparison, the average detached bungalow in Canada rose 11% in price to $329,209 in the first quarter.
Standard two-storey homes in Canada rose 10.3% to $365,141 in a year-over-year comparison, and the average condominium increased 10.9% in price to $228,963.