Vancouver Housing Market Analysis for October 2008
November 6th, 2008 Categories: Real Estate
The REBGV reports that Greater Vancouver housing price reductions across Greater Vancouver over the last six months have eliminated price gains witnessed in the first quarter of 2008. October was the slowest month of the year for sales. Active listings were down and the median price is down from September 2008 . Active listings 1% higher in October, over a year ago. Average price for October versus September 2008 went UP (+04%).
Residential benchmark prices, as calculated by the MLSLink Housing Price Index, declined 8.8% between May and October 2008, resulting in a 3.9% year to date price reduction for detached, attached and apartment properties in Greater Vancouver between October 2007 and 2008. In May 2008 the overall residential benchmark price was $568,411, compared to $518,668 in October 2008.
”Home sales are not keeping pace with the positive economic conditions in BC”, said REBGV president Dave Watt.” That’s a direct result of a loss of consumer confidence in the overall market. Accordingly, today’s housing market is characterized by moderating home prices and wide selection. It’s definitely a buyer’s market.
Residential property sales in Greater Vancouver declined 55% in October’08 to 1,364 from 3,028 sales recorded in October’07.
Active listings totalled 19,257 in Oc’08, a 3% decline from 19,852 active listings reported in Sept’08. New listings for detached, attached and apartment properties increased 1% to 4,867 in Oct’08 compared to Oct’07, when 4,819 new units were listed.
Sales of detached properties declined 56.5%% to 493, from 1,133 sales in Oct’07. The benchmark price declined 4.7% from Oct’07 to $695,962 and down from $726,331 in Sept. Since May’08 it has declined 9.8%.
Sales of apartment properties in Oct 2008 declined 52.7% to 647 compared to 1,368 sales in Oct 2007. The benchmark price, as calculated by the MLSLink Housing Price Index, of an apartment property declined 3.5% from Oct 2007 to $358,359 and down from September’s $369,062. Since May’08 the benchmark price for an apartment in Greater Vancouver has declined 8%.
Attached property sales in Oct 2008 decreased 57.5% to 224. compared to 527 in Oct 2007 and 275 from Sept’08. The benchmark price of an attached unit decreased 1.4% from Oct’07 to Sept’08 to $448,152 and has declined 6.4% since May 2008.
VANCOUVER WEST STATS
Oct2008 Oct2007 Sep2008 YTD2008 YTD2007
Units Sold 272 718 308 4668 7188
Median Selling Price
Condos: $408,500 $435,000 $411,500 $439,500 $415,000
Attached: $749,000 $716,000 $648,000 $718,000 $671,000
Det’d: $1,272,500 $1,422,000 $1,440,000 $1,479,000 $1,350,000
Active Listings
Condos: Jan-Oct’08 8180. Jan-Oct07 6958
Detached: Jan-Oct’08 2933. Jan-Oct’07 2323
Attached: Jan-Oct’08 1462. Jan-Oct’07 1115
Median West Side prices are down for all types of property, compared to September.
Vancouver West detached price decreased 6.6% from a year ago, attached 2.5% and condos 5.5%
Over the past 5 years, Vancouver West detached prices have increased 75.5%, attached 79.7% and condos 66.3%.
The best appreciation for detached, over the last year, in the Greater Vancouver area is Richmond at 2%. The best value is on the Sunshine Coast.
The best appreciation for attached over the last year, in the Greater Vancouver area, is Burnaby at 2.4%. Best value is Maple Ridge
The best appreciation for condos over the last year, in the Greater Vancouver area, is Vancouver East at 2.3%. Best value Maple Ridge.
On the up side - developments are closing down which means reduced inventory, BC still has 40,000+ in-migration (the world wants to live here!) so demand for rentals or real estate purchase, highest employment rate in 40 years, interest rates near an all time low (5.25% for 5 years). There are great deals out there, make offers and get a great deal!
when you’re ready to buy or sell Vancouver real estate, contact Maggie, an experienced realtor
There are great deals out there, make offers and get a great deal!
wake up maggie!
a “great” deal would be 50% off peak
are you prepared to offer that to a client?
now is not a good time to buy….
Remember this post from March?
Gambling On Vancouver Real Estate, To The Power Of Ten
27 March 2008 · 1 Comment
This from gse36 on Real Estate Talks Thu Mar 27, 2008 1:31 pm
“Case in point. friend’s house (fully paid) went from 400->800k. he took out LOC 600k (75% of value), and purchased some $3M of presales (8 of them) (only put 10-20% down) and it only cost him 500k or so of that LOC. He pays interest on the 500k @ prime so around $2k/mo for hanging onto them. Thats cheaper than buying 8 right now and renting them out (will bleed more than $2k/mo). And much cleaner (no tenants to have to deal with etc), and he can write off the interest. He made some money already on the earlier purchases, but the later ones. i don’t know. In either case, its quite risky. if prices slide, he risks losing the farm.”
[Will be archived under 'Where Do They Get The Money?'.]
Categories: Uncategorized
1 RESPONSE SO FAR ↓

maggie chandler // 29 March 2008 at 7:16 am smart idea and a great way to make $. i believe if investors did the same today, 10 years from now they’ll be smiling. having said that i notice many new buildings with 15-20 suites being flipped and they are sitting on the market now 5-6 months, with no price reductions. so maybe they’re not flippers but holding long for their price.
Do you still think it is a “smart idea” to take out a home equity loan on my house,,which is payed for,, to buy a couple of condo presales as an investment?? and will I be happy in ten years?? Thankyou for your professional advice !! Louise
Now is the time to buy.
Its a buyers market and buyers can negotiate. When the market was rising sellers had all the market power. Now its buyers that have the leverage and those who can utilise this and have the negotiating skills (or a realtor with those, even better!) and foresight to hold will do well.
Those looking for a quick buck will almost always be frustrated.
Actually Mike, I was not asking you for your opinion. But seeing that you gave it anyway ( when is the last time you made a sale by the way, you must be rather desperate ) why not wait a year or more and save 30 to 40 percnt. Pretty well everyone now knows the market is crashing and this is just the beginning. Of course it is a buyers market for you, it always is.. That is how you make your living. What else would you say??? LOL
[...] Residential property sales in Greater Vancouver declined 55% in October’08 to 1,364 from 3,028 sales recorded in October’07. (more…) [...]
[...] number here is an average decline of 3.15% year over year. Are we alone? I looked for source for Vancouver Real Estate information and found that their market is even more volitile than the local Toronto market. Their BOOM Market [...]
Housing Market is favourite in this time. Many people are invest many in property.
Hi Louise,
Don’t flatter yourself.
I wasn’t responding to your comment.
Have a look at my website and you’ll see I’ve been doing lots of deals.
Positive things happen to positive people.
Anyway back to comments on Maggies post.
The hot sheets for today show buyer activity is has picked up. The deals are being snapped up!
Three years ago I sold my first home without any Net resources. But it was very difficult for me. I heard that some services can publish ads about my home in the Internet. Can you help me to choose between Fizber and Trulia? Do you know anything about these services? My friend said that “Fizber” better than “Trulia”. But maybe he wasn’t right. So I need help.
Leave your response!
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