Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver reports rise in sales in May over same month last year

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      The number of housing transactions increased in the region last month over the same month of 2013, but remain below the 10-year average.

      The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver's statistics reveal that there were 3,286 sales through the Multiple Listing Service in May.

      That's up 14 percent over the 2,882 sales in May 2013.

      However, the 10-year average for May is 3,514, which means last month's figures were 6.5 percent below that threshold.

      Single-family home sales rose 19.9 percent over May 2013.

      Apartment sales were up 13.2 percent over the same month last year.

      Attached home sales were up just 2.4 percent.

      The board reported that the benchmark price for all homes in Vancouver was $624,000 last month.

      For apartments in "Vancouver West", the benchmark price was $493,700, up 5.6 percent over the price in May 2013.

      In "Vancouver East", the benchmark price of an apartment was $320,300, up 3.8 percent from a year ago.

      Single-family detached homes on the West Side of Vancouver had a benchmark price of $2.3 million, up 7.8 percent from a year ago; on the East Side, the benchmark price was $904,800, up eight percent from May 2013.

      Comments

      4 Comments

      Mark

      Jun 3, 2014 at 2:52pm

      Those are some pretty big percentage price increases. I still can't believe how expensive detached homes are.

      rob_

      Jun 4, 2014 at 8:16am

      Thanks for quoting the REBGV press release without doing any analysis or context.

      Price are up from a year ago but are actually down slightly compared to the same month two years ago. After adjusting for inflation the that is a drop of about 2.6%.

      Vancouverite

      Jun 4, 2014 at 8:29am

      But these numbers simply cannot be correct:

      "For apartments in "Vancouver West", the benchmark price was $493,700, up 5.6 percent over the price in May 2013. In "Vancouver East", the benchmark price of an apartment was $320,300, up 3.8 percent from a year ago."

      Vision Vancouver keeps pounding into us that increasing housing supply by paving over our communities and building towers everywhere will (in addition to saving the planet) decrease housing costs. They're not lying to us, are they?

      RUK

      Jun 4, 2014 at 9:41am

      @Vancouverite

      Isn't this about supply and demand?

      Let's say you have 100 people who are trying to buy a home.

      If there are 50 homes available, it's reasonable to think that the purchasers will compete with each other and drive up the prices.

      If there are 150 homes available, it's reasonable to think that the vendors will try to compete with each other and lower the prices.

      Now, maybe it does not work like that in real estate, but I would be curious to know why it would not.