August 2022 - Vancouver Real Estate Market Update: Still Alive!

Last month we saw housing sales volumes across Greater Vancouver decrease for the 4th consecutive month. Current conditions favor buyers in the regions detached home market for the first time since Spring 2020! Despite all the doom and gloom we read about on the headlines, I still see that if homes  are priced right and presented well, they will still get plenty of showings and go into multiple offers. 

The MLS benchmark price was $1,207,400 across all homes in Greater Vancouver. This is a 10% price increase from July 2021 and a 2% price decrease from June 2022. 

July 2022 sales volumes fell to the lowest volume in any month since May 2020 across all home types.  Sales fell 43% from July 2021 and fell 23% from June 2022. Ok, this is where you need to be careful reading this statistic. Real estate in Greater Vancouver during 2020 and 2021 were NOT normal! Of course, you're going to see huge declines in sales coming off of a hot couple years. We're seeing sales volumes going back to early 2019 levels but with a bit more action because total listings declined for the 1st time in 6 months this year and remains very constrained as it lies 17% below the 10-year average listings count for July. That's why there's still a good amount of market activity. 

In today's market, home Sellers need to have the expectation that home prices are no longer those from February and March of this year. Homes take slightly longer to sell too - approximately a month on average! If you plan on listing it very high and gradually reducing the price, you've pretty much set yourself up for failure. Regardless, just know that with the slight declines in price, median prices across Greater Vancouver still hold strong and above the July 2021 prices: Detached house median prices are 9% higher, townhouses are 11% higher and condos are 7% higher! As a Seller, you are still in control: don't feel forced to 'give away' your home but also set your expectation straight with your real estate professional before listing your home for sale.

Buyers need to know that the market has a very high likelihood of NOT crashing. Seriously. Home owners have so much equity in their homes, you have no idea how many Sellers are willing to keep renting out their homes until they can get their desired price. I've seen 1 bedroom condos that are 600 sqft in downtown Vancouver now that are actually being rented out for $2,500/month unfurnished! That's insanely high. Also, we're seeing Buyers who were originally pre-approved for more financing suddenly look at properties well-below their means. This means for first time home buyers, the price points that you're looking at are still seeing quite a bit of action.

For buyers who were queasy with the countless multiple offers and no-subject offers that plagued our market the last couple of years, here's your chance - the opportunity to take your time with your due diligence! Of course, there are risks of rising interest rates and inflation concerns but also know that you may be competing with institutional investors in the near future for your home purchases. We see this happening in the U.S. now where investment funds are buying up homes across the country. I wouldn't be surprised if this happened in Canada in the near future with the rents being as high as it is now!

I hope that gives you a glimpse of the Vancouver real estate market. Subscribe to my newsletter in the description below to get the full analysis of last month's market statistics.