Metro Vancouver home prices rose 4.4% to $628,600 in July compared with the same month a year ago, according to Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV) statistics released August 5.
Month over month, however, prices were relatively flat given that June’s average benchmark price was $628,200.
The trend toward strong sales continued to hold up prices.
“This is the fourth consecutive month that the Greater Vancouver market has exceeded 3,000 sales,” said REBGV president-elect Darcy McLeod. “Prior to this, our market has not surpassed the 3,000-sale mark since June of 2011.”
McLeod described the market as being in the upper reaches of a balanced market given that the sales-to-active-listings ratio sits at 19.6%.
That’s down from a 21.3% sales-to-active-listings ratio in June but is significantly higher than earlier in the year.
The sales-to-active-listings ratio is a key metric to determine a market’s strength. Conventional real estate wisdom is that a market is considered to be a buyers’ market when the sales-to-active-listings ratio is below 13%. A balanced market exists when the ratio is between 13% and about 21%. It is then considered a sellers’ market when the ratio is above 21% for at least a few months, REBGV president Ray Harris explained to Business in Vancouver earlier this year.
New listings for detached, attached and apartment properties in Metro Vancouver totalled 4,925 in July. That’s a 1.5% increase compared with the 4,854 new listings in July 2013 and a 7.8% decline from the 5,339 new listings in June.
All regions saw price increases.
East Vancouver was the best performing part of the Metro Vancouver real estate market, with the benchmark home price rising 6.2% to $647,000. Whistler’s 0.2% benchmark price increase, to $457,100, was the weakest in the region.
