As we all know our very own Denny Dumas started his Zero to Here podcast late last year and the G+D Team has finally made an appearance! Monica Harmse, Shawn Kambo, Lucas Mccann and Adam Senuik talk about the current real estate market in Vancouver and what may be coming up in the Spring!
May is here and it’s time for a Greater Vancouver condo market update. It’s been a bit of a crazy year, and, between the snow and the rain, the weather has been awful and it’s held back the sales a little bit, or at least that’s part of the reason for it.
As of April 26, 2017, the year-to-date number of sales are down from this time last year in the same period. If I were to put an approximate figure on it, I would say it’s down 30% in terms of number of sales. However, number of sales is just part of the equation for the market–prices are up considerably. Condos and townhouses are hot! They’re more affordable than detached homes, and, as a result, have a lot more buyers.
To get a good indication of how the market doing, we like to look at the sales ratio. The sales ratio is the sales-to-active listings ratio or the number of sales that take place in a given month divided by the number of active listings. A seller’s market is considered to have a sales ratio of 21% or higher. That usually means that prices don’t back track. In Vancouver right now, we’re seeing a sales ratio of 60% over the last 60 days. In Burnaby, it’s 66%, in New Westminster it’s 76%, and in the Tri-Cities it’s 98%. These are strong seller’s markets.
If we isolate Vancouver condos north of $1.5 million, the sales ratio goes from 60% down to 22%, which is on the fringe of a seller’s market. At that figure, it’s definitely not a climbing market, but it’s definitely not back tracking either. So, sales volume may be down, but the prices are up. According to the latest stats from the REBGV, condo prices are up 16% across all of Greater Vancouver; however, in Burnaby, New Westminster and the Tri-Cities, we’re seeing a figure that seems to be more in line with 25%. And, particularly newer condos built after 2000 that are entry price points in the market, they’re smoking hot. The demand for affordable condos is high; the higher the price points, the lower the demand.
Let’s look at those percentages in a more practical way. Let’s look at a ‘Yaletown‘ 1 bedroom that’s 550 sf mid-level, say 10 years old as well. Those are selling for $1100 a foot this year; in 2016 for $950sf, and the year before it would be $775. Back to back years of 20+% appreciation–that is a hot market. It’s not sustainable, but it is smoking hot at the moment and I don’t expect it to slow down any time soon.
Some interesting stats for Greater Vancouver:
The highest sale as of April 26 2017 is $8.7 million. That was for a 3600sf condo in ‘Coal Harbour‘. That’s bigger than my house. In the Tri-Cities, a condo in Newport Village sold for $1.4 million for 1800sf overlooking the water.
Moving forward, I expect more of those to come; a lot of people that are downsizing are moving into these high end condos. So if you own a high end condo, now is a great time to consider listing. Basically, if you own any condo in Greater Vancouver, now is a great time to sell! The problem is, what are you going to buy? If you’re buying another condo, you may have some challenges.
Full Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver Stat Package for April 2017
If you’re thinking of buying, selling or just curious about the value of a property, contact us today!
James Garbutt
Burnaby Realtor
Having your own home in Greater Vancouver can be a dream for many people, however at some point you might want to move on, and this is when you might be looking to sell your house. If you want to sell your home in Vancouver however, we have comprised a list with a few tips that might help you get the best price and sell your home faster!
One of the most important things is to try and make your home as appealing as possible from a visual standpoint. The landscaping, curb appeal, as well as the front exterior need to look their best if you want to make a great impression on the customer. On top of that, you might also want to trim the trees and keep all the exterior locations as clean as possible.
The interior also has to be clean as well, since this is another crucial selling point for your home in Vancouver. Also, try to remove the large furniture as this makes the rooms feel larger. The main idea here is to open up the traffic flow and make these rooms feel warm and welcoming, while also showing potential buyers that there is a lot of options for customizing the home according to their needs.
Another crucial thing is to make sure that you free your home from offensive odors, and instead bring some fresheners instead.
When you sell your home, you also need to work with a realtor, because without a realtor with strong negotiation skills, you won’t be able to get the asking price, and that would be unfortunate if you home was sold for less than what you felt it was worth. Of course, before you start promoting your house on the market, you need to make sure that you place it on the market for the right price, because you don’t want it to be too expensive or too cheap. Speak with your realtor about pricing your home. Think about every asset in the home, all its features, then price it accordingly.
And while these tips are important if you want to prepare your house for selling it the right way, the reality is that your realtor has to promote it quite a lot online if you want to attract potential buyers.
If you want to sell your home in Vancouver, then your realtor needs to create online listings that showcase information about your home. The main idea here is to get the best possible exposure across the Vancouver residential housing market. Ensure that your realtor adds a few photos of your house, those that showcase the most important features, and avoid stuffing too much data into the description.
Also, make sure that your realtor conducts any home visits as this way you will have an even better chance of getting the desired results. In fact, working with a professional realtor when it comes to selling your house in Vancouver will increase your chances of getting more money on the property, not to mention that the sale will be made a lot faster.
In conclusion, by combining a proper house presentation with a great marketing strategy you will be able to sell your Vancouver home quickly and without too many issues. Just remember that it might take a little while for the right buyer to appear, but as long as you are patient you will be able to get the amount of money that you want from this sale!
A closer relationship between home buyer demand and the supply of homes for sale has been having a stabilizing impact on home prices in the Greater Vancouver housing market over the last three months.
The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV) reports that residential property sales in Greater Vancouver reached 2,627 on the Multiple Listing Service® (MLS®) in April 2013. This represents a 6.1 per cent decrease compared to the 2,799 sales recorded in April 2012, and an 11.9 per cent increase compared to the 2,347 sales in March 2013.
Last month’s sales equate to the lowest April total in the region since 2001 and 20.9 per cent below the 10-year sales average for the month.
“While the number of home sales remains below average, properties that are priced right are selling and we’re seeing greater balance between buyer demand and the number of homes listed for sale. This is having a steadying influence on home prices in the region,” says Sandra Wyant, REBGV president.
New listings for detached, attached and apartment properties in Greater Vancouver totalled 5,876 in April. This represents a three per cent decline compared to the 6,056 new listings reported in April 2012 and a 21.4 per cent increase from the 4,839 new listings in March of this year. Last month’s new listing count was 0.4 per cent above the region’s 10-year new listing average for the month.
The total number of properties listed for sale on the MLS® in Greater Vancouver is 16,730, a 1.2 per cent increase compared to April 2012 and an 8.2 per cent increase compared to March 2013.
