Hello, it's Cari Mai and this is your Vancouver Real Estate Market update for March 2024!
Increase in Home Sales
The overall market is heating up. Based on last month's sales numbers, we're seeing the most homes sold since August 2023. Sales rose for all home types with a +13.5% increase in home sales when compared with last February. It is worth noting that sales are still -23% below the 10 year average for the month
Surge in New Home Listings
It seems like home sellers finally got the memo as we saw an influx of + 31% more new home listings when compared with February last year and +15% more new home listings come up for sale when compared with January. This is much greater than the typical 8% jump in new listings between the months of January and February. Even with more listings that came to market, this only brings us right around the 10 year average for new listings on the market AND inventory is still not high enough for certain home types and areas to temper rapid price increases.
Pricing Trends
The MLS benchmark price is $1,183,300 for all home types across Greater Vancouver. This is a +4.5% price increase from February 2023 and a significant 2% month-over-month price increase from January. Though we see an upward trend in benchmark price, its still remained below the Spring 2022 peak before the Bank of Canada rate tightening began.
Interest Rates and Government Policies
Speaking of the Bank of Canada, interest rates from last week's announcement stayed the same at 5% as Economists have predicted. Though there have been rumours that rate cuts might begin as early as April, Economists warn that they will be very minimal at best.
Just a couple weeks ago the BC government's budget came out announcing a few key changes to the Property Transfer Tax legislation as well as the BC Home Flipping Tax. I talk about these changes in the videos here and I'll also link it in the description box below. The federal government has also made plans to scrap their first time home buyer incentive which aimed to help qualified first time home buyers reduce their monthly payments in form of a shared-equity mortgage with the Government of Canada. After March 21, 2024, this program will no longer be available.
Market Dynamics
It's an interesting market - we're seeing multiple offer activity for certain home types while we're seeing other types of homes just sit on the market for a while before receiving an offer. I'm also seeing homes that couldn't sell late last year, finally get sold after months of being on the market. So if you were to ask me how's the market, my answer in this case will really be "it depends." Greater Vancouver is not a one-size-fits-all type of region.
Conclusion
That's your Vancouver Real Estate Market Update for March 2024! If you have any questions about what you just heard here today, I'm just a message away. If you'd like to be informed for future real estate news happening in Greater Vancouver, simply hit the subscribe button to never miss a future update! If you prefer to read, subscribe to my bi-monthly newsletter in the description box below. Hope that helps! See you later!
