Last month's Greater Vancouver housing sales were up 25.2 percent over previous September

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      Despite sky-high prices, people continue snapping up housing in Metro Vancouver.

      This morning, the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver has reported that 2,821 residential properties were sold last month.

      That's 25.2 percent higher than the REBGV figure in September 2016. In August 2016, the provincial government imposed a 15 percent foreign-buyers' tax on Lower Mainland residential real estate sales.

      Last month's sales figure was also 13.1 percent above the 10-year average for September.

      The REBGV's territory includes Whistler, the Sunshine Coast, Squamish, and most of the Lower Mainland.

      It does not include North Delta, Surrey, and Langley, which are part of the Fraser Valley Real Estate Board.

      Last month, the benchmark price for all properties in the REBGV was nearly $1.04 million. That's a 0.7 drop from the benchmark price in August but still 10.9 percent above the figure in September 2016.

      The benchmark for detached properties in the REBGV was $1.6 million last month. 

      For apartments, it was $635,800 and for attached properties, the benchmark was $786,600.

      The sharpest increase in sales volume over the year was for attached properties: 40.4 percent.

      Detached properties saw a 27.9 percent increase in sales whereas apartment transactions rose by 19.1 percent over the year.

      Detached homes amounted to about 30 percent of all September sales and 62 percent of all listings.

      The sales-to-listing ratio—which is a barometer for where the market might go—was 14.6 percent for detached homes, whereas it was 42.3 percent for townhomes and 60.4 percent for apartments.

      "Our detached homes market is balanced today," REBGV president Jill Oudil said in a news release, "while apartment and townhome sales remain in sellers' market territory. If you're looking to enter the market, as either a buyer or seller, it's important to understand these trends and use this information to set realistic expectations."

      The highest price spikes on an annual basis were Squamish (23.3 percent), Sunshine Coast (21.1 percent), Bowen Island (20.5 percent), and New Westminster (20 percent).

      The largest price spike in any individual category was for an apartment in Whistler, which rose 33.6 percent on the year. Apartments in Coquitlam increased in price by 30.3 percent.

      Those were the only two segments of the market to show increases of over 30 percent on an annual basis.

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