Is the growth Greater Vancouver real estate has experienced over the past year sustainable? Or is sanity, and balance, returning? James looks into his cloudy crystal ball and discovers the answer may not be up to local buyers.

The real estate market in Greater Vancouver is still a hot ticket. But there’s no guarantee that will last.
Most of the gains in prices occurred between last summer and this past January. It’s no accident those 20 per cent increases coincided with a 20 per cent drop in the value of the Canadian dollar. So, foreign investors buying into areas like Vancouver, New Westminster, Coquitlam and Burnaby didn’t actually feel the higher real estate prices.
Those prices aren’t being driven by the local economy.
Since January, the Canadian dollar has risen 10 cents. That’s making Greater Vancouver real estate less appealing to foreign buyers.
The hyper-growth we’ve been experiencing over the past year isn’t sustainable. Eventually, if sellers continue to cash out, there will be more listings than buyers and the balance will swing to their favour. More offers will come with subjects. There will be fewer competing bids for properties.
So, if I was a seller looking to cash out, I’d do that right now. Eventually demand will dwindle.