Home sales continue to slump in Metro Vancouver, Fraser Valley in July
The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver says only 1,887 homes were sold in July, a 43.3 per cent decrease compared with the same month last year.
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Home sales continued to slump last month in Metro Vancouver, as potential buyers back off because of rising interest rates, according to the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver.
The board reported Wednesday that only 1,887 were sold in July, a 43.3 per cent decrease from the 3,326 homes sold in July 2021. That number also represents a 22.8 per cent drop from the 2,444 homes sold in June.
Last month’s sales were 35.2 per cent below the 10-year July sales average, according to the report.
The board chair, Daniel John, said homebuyers are exercising more caution because of rising interest rates and inflationary concerns.
“This allowed the selection of homes for sale to increase and prices to edge down in the region over the last three months,” he said in a statement Wednesday.
The total number of homes currently listed for sale on the MLS in Metro Vancouver is 10,288, which according to the report is a 4.4 per cent increase compared to July 2021 and a 1.3 per cent decrease compared to June.
“After two years of market conditions that favoured home sellers, homebuyers now have more selection to choose from and more time to make their decision,” said John, in the statement.
“In today’s changing housing market, both homebuyers and sellers should invest the time to understand what these changes mean for their personal circumstances.”
As for prices, they are still higher than last year at the same time, but down slightly from the month previous. The reports says the composite benchmark price for all residential properties in Metro Vancouver is currently $1,207,400, which is a 10.3 per cent increase over July 2021 and a 2.3 per cent decrease compared with June.
The benchmark price for a detached home in Metro Vancouver is $2,000,600. This represents an 11 per cent increase from last July but a 2.8 per cent decrease from June.
The cost of a condo fared similarly at $755,000 — an 11.4 per cent increase from July 2021 but a 1.5 per cent drop from the month before.
The benchmark cost of a townhome, meantime, was $1,096,500, a 15.8 per cent increase from last July and a 1.7 per cent decrease compared with June.
Areas covered by the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver include: Burnaby, Coquitlam, Maple Ridge, New Westminster, North Vancouver, Pitt Meadows, Port Coquitlam, Port Moody, Richmond, South Delta, Squamish, Sunshine Coast, Vancouver, West Vancouver, and Whistler.
Sales slump in Fraser Valley as well
Similarly, the Fraser Valley Real Estate Board said sales fell again in July, citing interest rate hikes and inflation as likely reasons.
There were 993 home sales processed during the month of July, down 22.5 per cent from a month earlier and a 50-per-cent drop over July 2021.
July new listings totalled 2,385, a 28-per-cent drop from June and a decrease of 1.9 per cent from July 2021.
Prices also dropped for a fourth consecutive month, though they remain much higher than a year ago. Detached homes sold for a benchmark price of $1.594 million, down 3.5 per cent from June and 10 per cent below a March peak.
But the residential property benchmark is up year over year by 18 per cent.
— With a file from Joseph Ruttle
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