Residential Home Sales
July was a hot month, and not just for summer temperatures. Strong sales pushed home prices up across all home types throughout Metro Vancouver*, putting added pressure on local inventory levels.
The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV) reported that residential home sales^ across the region totalled 2,455 last month – 28.9% up from the 1,904 sales recorded in the same month last year. This figure sat at 15.6% below the 10-year seasonal average (2,909).
Andrew Lis, Director of Economics and Data Analytics at the REBGV commented on the July changes saying, “While sales remain about 15 per cent below the ten-year average, they are also up about 30 per cent year-over-year, which is not insignificant. Looking under the hood of these figures, it’s easy to see why sales are posting such a large year-over-year percentage increase. Last July marked the point when the Bank of Canada announced their ‘super-sized’ increase to the policy rate of one full per cent, catching buyers and sellers off guard, and putting a chill on market activity at that time.”
Inventory
Throughout July, there were 4,649 detached, attached and apartment properties newly listed for sale on the Multiple Listing Service® (MLS®) in Metro Vancouver. This represents a 17% increase compared to the 3,975 homes listed in July 2022, but came in at 5.2% below the 10-year seasonal average (4,902).
The total number of homes currently listed for sale on the MLS® system across the region is 10,301 – 4% less than July last year (10,734) and 14.4% below the 10-year seasonal average (12,039).
Sales-to-Active Listings Ratio and Composite Benchmark Price
Across all detached, attached and apartment property types, the sales-to-active listings ratio last month was 24.9%
By property type, the ratio is:
- Detached: 16.5%
- Townhomes: 32.0%
- Apartments: 30.6%
Analysis of the historical data suggests downward pressure on home prices occurs when the ratio dips below 12% for a sustained period, while home prices often experience upward pressure when it surpasses 20% over several months.
Lis (Director at REBGV) goes on to add, “What’s interesting to see in the current market environment is that, while the Bank of Canada rate hike this July was only a quarter of a per cent, mortgage rates are now at the highest levels we’ve seen in Canada in over ten years. Yet despite borrowing costs being even higher than last July, sales activity surpassed the levels we saw last year, which I think says a lot about the strength of demand in our market and buyers’ ability to adapt to and qualify for higher borrowing costs.”
The MLS® Home Price Index composite benchmark price for all residential properties in Metro Vancouver is currently $1,210,700. This represents a 0.5% increase over July last year and a 0.6% increase compared to June just been.
Metro Vancouver Home Sales by Property Type
Detached Homes
Sales of detached homes reached 681 last month. 28.7% more than the 529 detached sales recorded last July. The benchmark price for a detached home is $2,012,900. This represents a 0.6% jump up from July 2022 and a 1.1% increase compared to June earlier this year.
Apartment Homes
Sales of apartment homes reached 1,281 this July, a 20.7% increase compared to the 1,061 sales in July last year. The benchmark price of an apartment home is $771,600. This figure is up 2.6% from last July and up 0.6% compared to June just been.
Attached Homes
Attached home sales last month totalled 466. This was 53.3% more than the 304 sales recorded in July 2022. The benchmark price of an attached home is $1,104,600. This represents a 1.2% increase from July last year and a 0.5% increase compared to June earlier this year.
*Areas covered by the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver include: Bowen Island, 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.
^The REBGV is now including multifamily and land sales and listings in this monthly report. Previously, they only included detached, attached, and apartment sales, and these additional categories, which typically account for roughly 1-2% of total MLS® activity per month, are being included for completeness in our reporting.
