Olivia D’Orazio
Other
There’s no stopping buyers in Vancouver’s red-hot market, with agents revelling in spring sales up 30 per cent over the 10-year average.
Overall sales during the month of April were up 37 per cent from the year-ago period, pushing the average price across all property types up 8.5 per cent to $673,000.
And still there’s not enough properties to meet burgeoning demand.
“The supply of homes for sale today in the region is not meeting the demand we’re seeing from home buyers,” said Darcy McLeod, the president of the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver. “This is putting upward pressure on prices, particularly in the detached home market.”
In that particular vertical, sales were up 35.9 per cent in April from a year ago, driving prices up another 12.5 per cent to an average of $1.08 million. Condo sales followed closely behind, with sales climbing 34.7 per cent in April as the average price rose to $394,200, a 4.4 per cent increase over April 2014.
“Sellers are holding the cards,” says David Hung, a sales rep in Vancouver. “The properties that are going – two-bed, two-bath – are selling for multiple offers, and buyers are getting caught in the hype of the market.”
Hung also says that any buildable land, especially in the Fraser, Mount Pleasant and Victoria neighbourhoods, are going for top dollar. In the condo market, meanwhile, he says buyers are looking for the lifestyle that comes with being in the middle of a bustling city.
“They might not be priced out (of the detached market),” he says, “but they want to be in a vibrant community, which downtown has to offer.”
That buyer demand also put pressure on the number of new listings, which fell almost a full per cent from the April 2014 period. In the detached market, listings were down 0.4 per cent. Condo listings were down 2.1 per cent from year-ago period.
Indeed, that demand isn’t likely to go anywhere.
“I’m letting buyers know that this is the reality of the market right now,” Hung says. “If there’s something they want and must have, then definitely they should put their best foot forward; this is not the time to write lowball offers.”
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