Mortgage Stress Test Continues to Dampen Home Sales in February


Wednesday, March 13th, 2019

Homebuyers continue to be sidelined by stress test

BCREA

The British Columbia Real Estate Association (BCREA) reports that a total of 4,533residential unit sales were recorded by the Multiple Listing Service® (MLS®) in February, a decline of 27per cent from the same month last year. The average MLS® residential price in the province was $678,625,adecline of 9.3per cent from February 2018. Total sales dollar volume was $3.08billion, a 33.8per cent decline from the same month last year.

“Prospective homebuyers continue to be sidelined by the mortgage stress test,” said Brendon Ogmundson, BCREA Deputy Chief Economist. “As a consequence, and despite a strong BC labour market, sales remained slow in February.”

Total MLS® residential active listings increased 36.5per cent to 30,891units compared to the same month last year. The ratio of sales to active residential listings declined from 27.4per cent to 14.7per cent over the same period.

“Falling mortgage rates should provide some relief for homebuyers, providing a small boost to affordability heading into the spring,” added Ogmundson

©BCREA 2019



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