The real estate Board of Greater vancouver (REBGV) reports that sales of residential houses, attached and apartment service area MLS ® system has reached 2317 in October, down 1 percent compared to 2337 sales in October 2010 and an increase of 3.2 percent over the previous month. These sales rank as the second lowest total in October over the past 10 years.

“Right now, prospective home buyers have a good selection of properties to choose from and more time to make decisions,” Rosario Setticasi, REBGV president said. “Home sellers should be mindful of local market conditions to ensure they are pricing their properties competitively.”

New listings for detached, attached and apartments in Greater vancouver totaled 4,374 in October, which is on par with the average of 10 years. This represents an increase of 18.3 percent compared to October 2010, when 3,698 properties were sold on MLS ®, and a decrease of 23 percent compared to 5680 new listings reported in September 2011.
Total number of properties listed for sale in Greater vancouver MLS ® system is currently sitting on 15 377, which is 9.3 percent higher than the 14 075 properties listed for sale during the same period last year. October was the first of the month, the total number of real estate listings have decreased this year.

The housing price index MLSLink ® (HPI) reference price for all residential properties in Greater vancouver over the last 12 months rose 7.5 percent to $622,955 in October 2011 from $579,349 in October 2010. But since it peaked in June $630,921, the reference price for all residential properties in the region declined 1.3 percent.

Sales of single-family homes in October was 974, which represents virtually no change from the 976 detached sales recorded in October 2010 and a decrease of 34.5 percent of 1,487 units sold in October 2009. The benchmark price for detached houses increased by 11 percent from October 2010 to $884,778, but fell 1.3 percent from the previous month.
Property sales reached 958 apartments in October, down 2.6 percent compared to 984 sales in October 2010 and decreased 40.4 percent compared to 1607 sales in October 2009. The benchmark price of an apartment rose 3.2 percent from October 2010 to $ 402,702, but declined 0.7 percent from the previous month.

Sales of attached property in the month of October were 382, ​​1.3 percent more than the 377 sales in October 2010, and 37.4 percent compared to last year 610 properties were sold attached to the in October 2009. Reference price fixed per unit increased 6.5 percent in October 2010 and 2011, $519,455, and rose half a percentage point from the previous month.

Source: real estate Board of Greater vancouver

House prices as a reference in Metro vancouver increased 7.5 percent to $622,955 in October 2011 from $579,349 in October 2010, according to the latest monthly report from the real estate Board of Greater vancouver.

But since it peaked in June $630,921, the reference price – namely, a typical house – all residential properties in the region declined 1.3 percent.

The report also indicates that sales of single-family homes in October reached 974, about the same as in October 2010.

In addition, new listings of all properties reached in October 4374, an increase of 18.3 percent compared with October 2010, when 3698 properties were offered for sale, and a decrease of 23 percent compared with the 5680 new listings in September 2011.

The total number of properties listed for sale now sit at 15,377, 9.3 percent higher than 14,075 properties for sale in the same period last year.

Meanwhile, the benchmark price for detached single-family homes in the fraser Valley in October was $530,335, an increase of 4.9 percent from $505,759 in October 2010 and on an equal footing with the price in September, according to the fraser Valley real estate Board.

Source: Brian Morton, vancouver Sun

Metro vancouver’s housing starts are on the upswing, rising to 1,783 in September over 1,644 in the same month last year, with most activity in the multi-family category, according to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp.

Year-to-date, the numbers were even stronger, with the multi-family sector seeing a 39-per-cent increase in starts from January to September compared to the same period in 2010.

The reason for the multifamily strength, according to CMHC’s senior market analyst for Metro vancouver, Robyn Adamache, is two-fold: builders are increasingly confident taking on larger multi-family projects, and buyers are skeptical of higher-priced detached homes because they want to avoid the HST threshold of $525,000.

“On the single-family side, we’re seeing a decline this year,” Adamache said in an interview after the report was released Tuesday. “We think people interested in a single detached home are putting off the decision until the HST tax ramifications are sorted out.

“When the economic recovery was fragile, builders were more comfortable doing single-family starts rather than a large project. It was a more incremental way of getting out of the recession. Since the recovery has taken a better foothold, we’re seeing the multi-family side pick up again.”

Construction hot spots year-todate compared to 2010 included North vancouver, Richmond area and the Tri-Cities area.

According to CMHC, while the total number of starts in Metro vancouver real estate rose eight per cent from August to September to 1,783, they were up 19 per cent year-to-date from 11,137 to 13,260.

Year-to-date, multiples were in a much stronger category, rising 39 per cent from January to September to 10,516, from 7,541 in the same period in 2010.

Single-detached starts fell 24 per cent over the same period, from 3,596 to 2,744.

Adamache – who noted that apartment starts were concentrated in the cities of Vancouver and Richmond real estate, while Surrey led the way in less dense housing types including single detached and townhome starts – said multi-unit construction has been trending higher since 2010 after declining sharply from 2008 to 2009.

She also said, “The City of vancouver had the second highest number of single-family home starts in the region, most of which were replacement housing.”

Greater vancouver Home Builders’ Association president and CEO Peter Simpson agreed in an interview that housing starts – particularly on the multi-family side – are looking up.

“In 2009, we ended the year with 8,339 [total] housing starts. Last year, it was improved to 15,217 for the entire year. This year, so far, we’re at 13,260. That’s not bad. The forecast for the year is about 16,300.”

However, Simpson said, the “fly in the ointment” is buyers avoiding higher-priced homes – particularly more expensive single-detached homes – until they get more clarity on the HST.

Simpson said builders would like the government to remove the provincial portion of the HST to a level that neutralizes the tax’s effect, or reduce the property-transfer tax on new homes to soften the HST’s effect.

Meanwhile, the Abbotsford census metropolitan area recorded 29 housing starts in September, down from the 43 starts recorded in the same month last year, the national housing agency said. So far this year, there were 362 housing starts compared with 351 in the same period last year.

In B.C., September’s seasonally adjusted annual rate of Vancouver urban housing starts moved higher to 27,400 units from 23,100 units in the previous month.

The number of starts in B.C. urban areas increased to 2,399 in September from 2,305 in September 2010.

Source: Brian Morton, vancouver Sun

OTTAWA — Canada’s housing market “remains a notable out-performer” in comparison to other countries, especially in vancouver homes, where renewed doubts about the strength of the global economy are weakening an already fragile real-estate scene, says a report released Tuesday.

The Bank of Nova Scotia said in an assessment of the global housing market that high unemployment, concerns over the financial health of some European governments, signs the global economic recovery is slowing down and recent stock-market volatility are burdening residential real-estate markets around the world.

For many people, saving money and repaying debt have become bigger priorities than making major purchases, such as homes, the report said.

“We expect global housing demand to remain moribund until the global economic recovery gets back on a firmer footing and some financial market stability returns,” said Adrienne Warren, senior economist with Scotia Economics.

(more…)

B.C.’s real estate market may be slowing down, but there is no sign vancouver’s sky high prices are caught up in a bubble that is about to burst, according to a new report

The Central 1 Credit Union report, which was issued on Thursday, forecasts the B.C. market will slow this year and total sales will drop slightly from 2010, but prices will continue to rise an estimated 6.8 per cent next year.

According to the report’s author economist Brian Yu, low interest rates that show no sign of rising quickly and the limited supply of land will keep values rising – all familiar arguments.

But Yu says there is another important reason to believe prices in vancouver are unlikely to collapse. Market speculation —commonly known as flipping — currently accounts for only about two or three per cent of the market.

Yu says that is a normal level, which shows most people are living in the homes they buy.

“Our research shows few signs that speculators are overly active in the vancouver homes market, which means we are unlikely to see a speculation-induced bust,” he said.

“Even if the economy slows and employment slows, we expect to see individuals hold on to their homes, rather than sell them in a weaker market,” he said.

Prices may be way up for detached homes in Richmond, vancouver and Burnaby, but Yu insists there hasn’t been a 500 real estate price surge across the region and concerns about a possible dramatic price drop in vancouver are overblown.

“Price jumps that have received media attention have been in localized areas and we have not seen a region-wide price surge,” he said.

Market balanced says national report

That’s backed up the Canadian real estate Association’s report that found a record 70 per cent of all local real estate markets across the country are considered to be in balance.

vancouver and Toronto’s share of provincial and national sales activity reached “unusually elevated” levels earlier this year, but has since pulled back into normal seasonal variations, the group said.

However, some observers said the market is eventually headed for a drop.

Fannie Fong of TD Economics said a peak-to-trough drop of roughly 10 per cent for both home sales and prices is expected, though that change isn’t expected until the Bank of Canada begins hiking interest rates in earnest in early 2013.

Just two months ago BMO Capital Markets raised the spectre of a vancouver price correction but with a caveat: as long as immigrants with money continue coming to vancouver, and interest rates stay low, prices in will stay high, said the BMO report.

Source: CBC News

METRO vancouver — If there’s one word that describes Metro vancouver and the vancouver-east-fraser-homes/” >fraser Valley’s current housing market, it’s balanced.

“Right now we’re at 22 per cent [sales-to-listings ratio], which means 22 per cent of the homes for sale are selling,” real estate Board of vancouver president Rosario Setticasi said in an interview Tuesday. “So, it’s balanced at the upper end and favours sellers, just barely.”

Setticasi noted that sales are below the 10-year average and home listings above what’s typical for June, and that means a closer alignment between supply and demand in the marketplace.

He said the sales-to-listings ratio is falling — and with it, upward pressure on prices.

“We were at 26 to 29 per cent when the market was really moving [and] last month it was at 24 per cent, so it’s dropped a bit. If it drops further it will be more to the buyers’ advantage because there’s more listings, and vendors are competing for buyers.”

In the vancouver-east-fraser-homes/” >fraser Valley, the percentage of properties sold compared to those available for purchase — 1,588 sales out of 9,758 listings in June — was constant over the past three months at 16 per cent, also reflecting balanced conditions more in favour of the buyer, the vancouver-east-fraser-homes/” >fraser Valley real estate Board said.

“When supply and demand remain as consistent as they have since April, it indicates a stable market,” board president Sukh Sidhu said, adding that the numbers vary in each community.

Tsur Somerville, director, centre for urban economics and real estate, Sauder School of Business at the University of B.C., said in an interview that he senses a slight “step back” in sales following sharp increases earlier in the year.

As well, he said, sellers are responding to the higher prices through increased listings.

“If listings are growing faster than sales, it’s a lower sales-to-listings ration, which is more favourable to buyers,” he added.

The REBGV reported that sales of detached, attached and apartment properties reached 3,262 in June, a 9.8-per-cent increase compared to the 2,972 sales in June 2010 but a 3.4-per-cent decline compared to the 3,377 sales in May 2011.

New listings totalled 5,793 in June, a 4.5-per-cent increase compared to June 2010 and 9.8 per cent higher than the 10-year average for June, while residential sales were 7.3 per cent below the ten-year average for sales in June.

The benchmark price for all residential properties (the price of a typical home) in Metro vancouver increased 8.7 per cent to $630,921 in June 2011 from $580,237 in June 2010, with the largest price increases on the west side of vancouver and West vancouver.

“Since the end of May, the benchmark price of a detached home rose more than $147,000 on the west side of vancouver and over $80,000 in West vancouver,” Setticasi said. “Detached home prices in richmond, however, levelled off slightly, declining $25,000 in June.”

Sales of detached homes in June 2011 reached 1,471, an increase of 29.1 per cent from the 1,139 detached sales recorded in June 2010, while the benchmark price for detached properties increased 13.4 per cent from June 2010 to $901,680.

The benchmark price for a detached home on the west side of vancouver was $2,068,000 in June and in West vancouver, $1,793,000.

The vancouver-east-fraser-homes/” >fraser Valley board said it received 2,762 new listings in June, a decrease of 12 per cent compared to the 3,153 new listings in June 2010. Total sales declined about one per cent since May, and 12.5 per cent since June 2010.

In June, the benchmark price for vancouver-east-fraser-homes/” >fraser Valley detached homes was $528,060, an increase of 1.9 per cent compared to $518,355 in June 2010 and a slight drop from May.

Meanwhile, detached single family home sales on vancouver Island north of Victoria are holding steady, with a one-per-cent decline in June compared to June 2010 and a 1.45 per cent decrease from May.

The vancouver Island real estate Board said in a survey that the average price of a detached home was $343,422 in June, down one per cent from $345,269 in June 2010 and down 3.6 per cent from $356,403 in May.

In Victoria, a total of 618 homes were sold in June, up from 572 sales in May and close to the 625 sales in June of last year.

The average price for single-family homes sold in Greater Victoria in June was $629,292, with 23 single family home sales of over $1 million. The average price in June 2010 was $649,280.

Source: BRIAN MORTON, vancouver SUN

The British Columbia real estate Association forecasts that the average residential price in the province will increase 13 per cent to $571,000 this year, before edging back 2.5 per cent to $557,000 in 2012.

In a news release issued today, the BCREA also predicted a moderate increase in housing this year and next.

“After declining 12 per cent in 2010, residential unit sales through the Multiple Listing Service in B.C. are forecast to rise by five per cent to 78,200 units in 2011 and a further three per cent to 80,700 units in 2012,” the release said.

However, the BCREA also said that home sales will remain below their 10-year average of 87,600 units both this year and next.

“Home sales will post some modest gains over the next two years,” Cameron Muir, BCREA chief economist, said in the release. “However, positive housing fundamentals like job growth, rising wages and an expanding population base will be somewhat offset by higher borrowing costs over the next eighteen months.”

Source: vancouver Sun

Residential MLS home sales in British Columbia edged down 1.3 per cent in May following a sharp decline in April.

Seasonally adjusted sales dipped to 6,120 units during the month, representing the lowest monthly sales activity since October, as half the province’s 12 regional real estate board areas recorded declines from the previous month.

The largest relative monthly declines were in the Chilliwack area (-12 per cent), which recorded a fifth consecutive drop, and the Kootenay area, which also pulled back 12 per cent following an eight-per-cent uptick in April. Meanwhile, seasonally adjusted sales in Victoria fell for a fourth month, dropping 10 per cent in May. Sales increased in the Kamloops, vancouver-east-fraser-homes/” >fraser Valley and Okanagan-Mainline board areas.

Despite the monthly variation in activity among regions, a number of trends persist. While sales remain moderately high in the Lower Mainland, activity is trending down as the March tightening of mortgage insurance rules and rising prices in the first part of 2011 (particularly in the singledetached market) bite into demand.

Demand for recreational properties has remained weak following the recession, and anecdotally, the elevated Canadian dollar, along with dramatic price declines in some markets south of the border, has made recreational housing in the U.S. a better deal.

As a result, the average sale prices in these markets have been flat or declining since early 2010.

Source: Bryan Yu, Central 1 Credit Union

A growing belief that Metro vancouver’s hot housing market is being driven by Asian investment, primarily from mainland China, is a misconception, according to experts in the real estate field.

In fact, they say, evidence suggests buyers are mainly Canadian citizens, immigrants or new residents in Canada -many with strong links to mainland China and many residing and working in China while their families establish roots in B.C.

Most purchases are also being made as long-term holdings – in some cases for children attending local universities – with little of the quick “flipping” prevalent in previous hot markets.

“From what we’ve seen from most of the major launches, it’s a different buying habit than previous runs on the market,” Jennifer Podmore, real estate advisory leader for accounting giant Deloite, said in an interview Friday. “Generally, we’re not seeing the investor as the main drivers of the market. There are certainly a lot more Asian purchasers, but not Asian investors coming to purchase a condo and then leaving.

“Most [buyers] have strong ties to vancouver, meaning they’re Canadians, immigrants or live here,” added Podmore.

Daryl Simpson, Bosa Properties’ vice-president of sales and marketing, agreed, citing their 202-unit Sovereign tower in Metrotown that recently sold out in one day, largely to ethnic Chinese buyers.

However, it’s incorrect to identify the buyers as mainland Chinese, he said, because most came from other parts of Metro vancouver. Some may have connections with mainland China, but no more than “half a dozen buyers” had addresses outside Canada.

In 2010 B.C. received about 47 per cent of Canada’s investor-class immigrants, who must show a net worth of at least $1.6 million and are required to make an $800,000 investment in Canada, Podmore added.

While Chinese immigrants to B.C. represented about 19 per cent of the total immigration, Chinese and Taiwanese investor-class immigrants represented 79 per cent of the investor category.

Source: Brian Morton, vancouver Sun