Metro Vancouver home sales down nearly 30 per cent in March


Thursday, April 5th, 2018

March home sales slide in Toronto, Vancouver

Tiffany Crawford
The Vancouver Sun

Home sales were down nearly 30 per cent in March in Metro Vancouver, as the region marked its lowest first-quarter sales volume in five years.

The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver says home sales in the region totalled 2,517 in March 2018, a 29.7-per-cent decrease from the 3,579 sales recorded in the same month last year.

The board says last month’s sales were 23 per cent below the 10-year March sales average.

Vancouver home sales also slid over the first quarter, with the board reporting a 13.1-per-cent decrease over the first three months of 2018, compared with the same period last year.

Board president Phil Moore says this represents the region’s lowest first-quarter sales total since 2013.

“We saw less demand from buyers and fewer homes listed for sale in our region in the first quarter of the year,” he said in a statement Wednesday.

Moore cited high prices, new tax announcements, rising interest rates and stricter mortgage requirements among the factors affecting home buyer and seller activity.

New listings were also down in March. The board says there were 4,450 detached, attached and apartment properties for sale in Metro Vancouver last month, a 6.6 per cent decrease compared to the 4,762 homes listed in March 2017.

“Even with lower demand, upward pressure on prices will continue as long as the supply of homes for sale remains low,” said Moore, adding that inventory, particularly in the condo and townhome segments, of homes for sale remains “well below historical norms.”

The composite benchmark price for all residential properties in Metro Vancouver is currently $1,084,000, a 16.1 per cent increase over March 2017 and a 1.1 per cent increase compared to February 2018.

Sales of detached properties in March 2018 reached 722, a decrease of 37 per cent from the 1,150 detached sales recorded in the same month last year. The benchmark price for detached properties is $1,608,500, a 7.4 per cent year over year increase.

Condo sales and townhouses were also down in March 26.7 and 24.1 per cent, respectively.

The benchmark price of an apartment property is $693,500, a 26.2 per cent increase from March 2017, while the average price of a townhouse increased 17.7 per cent to $835,300.

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