Homebuyers in Vancouver were not deterred by the latest Bank of Canada interest rate hike as both home sales and prices increased year-over-year according to the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver. The benchmark price for July 2023 was $1,210,700 – a 0.6% increase from June 2023 and a 0.5% increase from July 2022. Limited supply in the region is also helping to prop up prices as buyers compete for fewer available properties in a tight market.
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“While sales remain about 15 per cent below the ten-year average, they are also up about 30 per cent year-over-year, which is not insignificant,” said Andrew Lis, REBGV director of economics and data analytics.
Annual Sales Increased Across All Property Types
Despite month-over-month sales numbers dropping, year-over-year sales numbers are soaring, showing buyer confidence is stronger than last year even with mortgage rates being at the highest levels seen in over ten years.
“Yet despite borrowing costs being even higher than last July, sales activity surpassed the levels we saw last year, which I think says a lot about the strength of demand in our market and our buyers’ ability to adapt to and qualify for higher borrowing costs,” said Lis.
The largest increase in annual sales was for townhomes which experienced a 53.3% increase at 466 homes trading hands. Detached and apartment sales also grew at 28.7% and 20.7% respectively. Total home sales jumped up from 1,904 in July 2022 to 2,455 in July 2023 – an increase of 28.9%.
Number of Listings Continue Dropping Across the Region
For the second month in a row, new listings decreased month-over-month, this time by 13.1%. New listings were at a high this year in May at 5,661 but have now dropped to 4,649 new homes entering the market. This is still 17% above last year’s numbers but below the 10-year seasonal average of 4,902.
Local regions are also feeling the effects of limited listings, with every region experiencing a month-over-month decline in detached listings. Vancouver East, North Vancouver, New Westminster, Port Moody/Belcarra, and Squamish all experienced month-over-month declines of more than 30% for detached listings. Apartment listings did not fare much better; every region except Coquitlam and New Westminster experienced month-over-month declines in apartment listings.
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