Home prices up but real estate sales in province continue to slump
Scott Brown
The Province
B.C. home sales dropped more than 45 per cent in May compared with the same time last year but home prices continue to rise, according to a monthly report from the B.C. Real Estate Association (BCREA).
The BCREA says the average residential sales price in May was $728,898, which was a 3.2 per cent increase from the $706,394 average price recorded in May 2019.
In Greater Vancouver, the average sales price was up 2.9 per cent ($1.012 million to $1.041 million) compared with the same time last year, while Fraser Valley home prices climbed 2.6 per cent ($725,292 to $744,322).
Vancouver Island had the biggest price jump with a 9.5 per cent rise over May 2019 ($494,380 to $541,485), while the largest drop was recorded in Powell River where home prices plummeted 19.4 per cent ($366,933 to 295,748).
There were 4,518 provincial home sales recorded in May, compared with 8,244 sales in May of 2019, which illustrates the drastic impact the COVID-19 pandemic has had on B.C. real estate activity.
The BCREA say the total residential sales dollar volume reached $3.3 billion in May, which was down 43.5 per cent from last year.
Despite the huge year-over-year sales drop, the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) says national home sales and new listings were still up significantly from April.
“Home sales recorded over Canadian MLS systems rebounded by a record 56.9 per cent in May 2020; although, that is as a percentage of the weakest month of April on record,” the CREA said in a statement.
The CREA says May home sales jumped 31.5 per cent in Greater Vancouver and 20.6 per cent in the Fraser Valley compared with April numbers.
“There were encouraging signs of recovery in May,” said BCREA chief economist Brendon Ogmundson. “While activity is still far below normal, both sales and listings are up significantly from April’s lows.”
The BCREA says active listings are down nearly 24 per cent compared with 2019 numbers and more than 10,000 below where they would normally be in the spring.
© 2020 Postmedia Network Inc.
