Login / RegisterGreater Vancouver housing sales fall sharply in May compared to same month a year ago
The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver has reported a 15.5-percent decline in residential sales last month, compared to May 2011.
There were 2,853 transactions in May 2012—the lowest figure for the month since 2001 and 21.1 percent below the 10-year average for May.
The number of sales last month was on track with the 2,799 deals in April and 2,874 closings in March of this year.
The sharpest drop in sales involved detached housing, which fell 24.8 percent in May compared to the same month last year. Apartment sales were down 5.9 percent, and townhouse sales declined by 10.7 percent.
Prices remain high
Meanwhile, prices held up despite sluggish sales volumes over last month. The benchmark multiple-listings-sales price of $625,100 in the region was up 3.1 percent over May 2011.
The highest benchmark price in the region was for single-family detached houses in Vancouver's West Side: $2.25 million. That was 7.8 percent above the price a year ago for these properties.
Single-family homes in West Vancouver had a benchmark price of $1.95 million in May, up 12.3 percent over a year ago.
On the East Side of Vancouver, the benchmark price for a single-family home rose 8.7 percent in a year to $862,200.
The biggest annual price drop occurred in townhouses in Tsawwassen, which fell 6.2 percent to $476,100.
The next three largest annual price declines were with townhouses in Pitt Meadows (down 4.6 percent to $321,200), apartments in Maple Ridge (down 3.8 percent to $181,100), and apartments in Pitt Meadows (down 3.7 percent to $218,800).
The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver does not include Surrey and Langley, which are part of the Fraser Valley Real Estate Board.
Follow Charlie Smith on Twitter at twitter.com/csmithstraight.
Perhaps you feel like they did something wrong ("overextended themselves"), where you did not, and therefore they should be punished?
Why do you wish people to suffer? Is it because you feel like you caught the boat to buy a home and feel resentment towards those who didn't?
Perhaps you feel like they did something wrong ("didn't overextended themselves"), where you did not, and therefore they should be punished?
It's funny how people only see an argument from their side. Works both ways.
Prices will remain sticky for some time. Sellers will hang on like grim death, believing that somehow, some way, the value of their million-dollar Burnaby teardown will once again shoot skyward. But that won't happen. Not this time. The mania that grabbed this beast by the throat and drove it into the stratosphere - far, far beyond the means of ANY average person - will now drive it into the ground.
Those who bought early enough (prior to 2000?) likely won't lose much from their initial purchase price, though they'll lose tons from the *current* value. Those who bought at or near the peak - particularly if they're one of the many who critically overextended themselves - will be critically impacted. Yet those who lived smartly and within their own financial limitations, ignoring the 24/7 deception and Vancouver's culture of credit, will, in a comparative sense, prosper.
There is nothing keeping this pig alive now but stubborness, and that will evaporate soon enough. The party is over. Welcome to reality.
(1) I agree re. the photo - seems out of place for an article about Vancouver housing, beautiful as it may be;
(2) you mention you think housing prices will drop to at or near ~ 2000 prices. Do you have any reason for saying this? I usually find such comments based on the ability of the speaker to afford prices of that era (as in "these prices are too high - they are certainly going to drop to $100k ... any day now").
By the way, the average house price in *greater* Van in 2000 was ~ $375k.
http://jaybanks.ca/vancouverrealestate/vancouver-real-estate-prices-2006...
In any case, I feel no great need to ever buy again. I sold in late 2010 because I felt we were at the peak of a monster, and renitng has been very good for us.