After a few quiet and cool months, the Vancouver real estate market is heating up with promising signs of an active spring. The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV) reported 2,535 homes sold in March 2023, up 40% from last month’s 1,808 homes. Despite month-over-month gains, regional home sales are still 28.4% below long-term historical averages.
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Upswing in Buyer Activity as Home Sales and Prices Rise
Last month’s benchmark price was $1,143,900, up 1.8% from February 2023. Individual property types reflected those gains as well, with the benchmark price of a detached home increasing the most by 2.7%, reaching $1,861,800. Following this, townhouse prices rose by 1.7% to a benchmark price of $1,056,400, and apartment prices hit $737,400, a 0.7% increase. “On the pricing side, the spring market is already on track to outpace our 2023 forecast, which anticipated modest price increases of about one to two per cent across all product types,” said Andrew Lis, REBGV direct or economics and data analytics.
Amid rising prices and elevated borrowing costs, buyer interest was still strong. Home sales rose by more than 25% across each property type, with detached sales showing the most month-over-month growth at 42.8%. Not far behind, apartment sales experienced a month-over-month increase of 41.3%, while townhouse sales had a month-over-month increase of 27.3%. These numbers are down from March 2022, however as more homes come to market sales are expected to increase.
Inventory Growing, but Historically Low
Compared to February 2023, new listings were up by 24.5% with 4,317 properties hitting the market. However, this is 22.3% below the 10-year seasonal average of 5,553. Following a similar pattern, the total number of homes currently listed for sale is up by 8.1% from last month, reaching 8,617 properties, but this is 17.3% below the 10-year seasonal average of 10,421. Looking back to March 2022, when buyer activity was elevated, supply has significantly decreased. March 2022 saw 6,690 new listed properties for sale, and compared with today’s 4,317, that represents a 35.5% drop. This could indicate sellers are hesitant and waiting for more favourable conditions.
North Vancouver, Richmond and Vancouver West Heating Up
Across most of Metro Vancouver, detached home prices remained relatively stagnant, however North Vancouver, Richmond and Vancouver West experienced modest price increases. The greatest price increase for a detached home was found in Richmond, where the price rose by 8.6% to $1,995,000. A detached home in North Vancouver now costs a benchmark price of $1,992,500, up 7.6% from last month, and in Vancouver West the price rose 3.7% to $3,480,000 – the most expensive price in March 2023.
Sales were also up in these areas, with 95 detached homes sold in Richmond, a 58.3% increase over last month. Vancouver West detached sales were up by 42.4% with 94 homes sold, and North Vancouver was up by 33.3% with 64 homes sold.
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