Tag-Archive for ◊ affordability ◊
VANCOUVER, B.C. – April 2, 2009 – The Metro Vancouver housing market experienced a movement away from volatility and toward stability to start the spring season. Download PDF
Property listings decrease, as February sales improve
VANCOUVER, B.C. – March 3, 2008 – Residential housing sales in Greater Vancouver rose 94 per cent in February compared to the month before, with 1,480 sales registered in February compared to 762 sales in January, which was the slowest month for housing sales in 25 years. Over the past 10 years, February sales have typically surpassed January by an average increase of 53 per cent. more…
In most of Metro Vancouver, realtors recorded 1,480 Multiple-Listing-Service registered sales, about 45 per cent below the same month a year ago. February sales, however, were almost twice January’s 762 transactions. more…
According to BCREA’s fall Housing Forecast, BC MLS® residential sales are forecast to decline 28 per cent from 102,805 units in 2007 to 73,700 units this year. A modest 4 per cent increase to 76,500 units is forecast for 2009. more…
House prices still falling, CIBC says:
House prices still falling, CIBC says
Eric Beauchesne, Canwest News Service
Published: Wednesday, October 01, 2008OTTAWA — The Canadian housing market is close to becoming a buyer’s market for the first time in more than a decade, but it won’t be a bust, according to a report by CIBC World Markets.
Its projection that house prices will likely fall another five to seven per cent was issued as the real-estate industry was also reporting the number of homes being put up for sale retreated in August from the record levels of the previous four months.
“With new listings down from the recent peak, the resale housing market is stabilizing in most provinces,” the Canadian Real Estate Association said in its latest monthly market report, showing new listings falling 5.4 per cent in August. However, it also reported that sales fell 3.8 per cent during the month as well, with declines in all provinces other than Alberta, and in nearly all local markets and that the average selling price was down 4.6 per cent from a year earlier.
The steepest declines in sales activity were in some of Canada’s priciest real estate markets, including Vancouver, Victoria, Calgary and Toronto, which in turn pulled down the average selling price, it said.
“Slower activity in some of Canada’s pricier housing markets compared to year-ago levels will continue weighing on the national average price,” said the association’s chief economist Gregory Klump.
“As our analysis shows, the Canadian housing market is stable and home sellers are not under pressure to sell,” Klump said. “This is in stark contrast to the
U. S. housing market, where there are a large number of distress sales.”
CIBC World Markets economist Benjamin Tal agrees.
The Canadian real estate market did become overvalued, Tal said. However, over the past six months it has gone from being a hot seller’s market to a more balanced market, he added, projecting that over the next few months it will correct further into a buyer’s market, something not seen in Canada since 1995.
“A mere five to seven per cent drop in prices from current levels should bring the national average back to equilibrium,” he said. “That’s a mere fraction of the 25 per cent overshooting seen in the U.S. by mid-2006.”
The triggers that led to the free fall in U.S. home prices, or Canada’s last housing market bust in the early 1990s, do not exist in Canada today, Tal said, rejecting a recent warning by another investment firm of a U.S. style meltdown here and an earlier projection that home prices in some major Canadian cities would have to fall by 25 per cent to bring them back into balance.
The collapse in the Canadian housing market in the early 1990s resulted from a sharp increase in interest rates by the Bank of Canada, which reduced housing affordability, Tal said, adding it would take a doubling of today’s mortgage rates to match the drop in affordability that occurred then.
The current housing market recession in the U.S. was triggered by a variety of factors, key ones being a much heavier household debt burden and a much larger proportion of subprime mortgages there, he said.
“Eradicate subprime from the U.S. housing market and, instead of the most severe house price meltdown since the Great Depression, you get a trivial moderate cyclical slowing — something along the line of what we are experiencing here,” Tal said.
You can view the complete statistics package for September by clicking on the following link: September Stats.
Home prices adapt to affordability demands
VANCOUVER, B.C. – September 2, 2008 – The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV) reports that residential property sales in Greater Vancouver declined 42.9 per cent in September 2008 to 1,585 from the 2,776 sales recorded in September 2007.
New listings for detached, attached and apartment properties increased 28.8 per cent to 6,142 in September 2008 compared to September 2007, when 4,770 new units were listed.
“After five years of unprecedented increases, housing prices are beginning to realign,” REBGV president, Dave Watt said. “Although the economic situation in the United States has affected consumer confidence globally, the consensus view remains that our local housing market is underpinned by solid economic fundamentals.”
Sales of detached properties in September 2008 declined 50.3 per cent to 546 from the 1,099 units sold during the same period in 2007. The benchmark price, as calculated by the MLSLink Housing Price Index®, for detached properties declined 1.6 per cent from September 2007 to $726,331. Since May 2008, the benchmark price for a detached property in Greater Vancouver has declined 5.8 per cent.
Sales of apartment properties declined 35.1 per cent last month to 764, compared to 1,177 sales in September 2007. The benchmark price of an apartment property declined 0.7 per cent from September 2007 to $369,062. Since May 2008, the benchmark price for an apartment property in Greater Vancouver has declined 5.2 per cent.
Attached property sales in September 2008 decreased 41.9 per cent to 450, compared with the 775 sales in June 2007. The benchmark price of an attached unit increased 7.6 per cent between June 2007 and 2008 to $476,585. Since May 2008, the benchmark price for an attached property in Greater Vancouver has declined 3 per cent.