BCREA reports average home price posted 3.6 percent increase even as “sales slip well below normal”

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      Home sales are dropping across the province amid rising interest rates.

      The B.C. Real Estate Association has reported that sales in July 2022 declined 42.4 percent compared to the same month last year.

      Realtors sold 5,572 homes last month compared to 9,668 in July 2021.

      “Many regions around the province have seen sales slip to levels well below normal for this time of year,” BCREA chief economist Brendon Ogmundson said in a media release Thursday (August 11).

      Meanwhile, the average price of a B.C. home posted a modest annual increase of 3.6 percent.

      In July 2022, the average price rose to $923,449 in comparison to the $891,376 average price recorded in July 2021.

      The BCREA release noted that as “sales activity declines below normal levels, inventory is accumulating”.

      “Provincial active listings rose 28 per cent year-over-year, though from a very low level in July 2021,” the association stated.

      Moreover, “Inventories remain quite low, but the slow pace of sales has tipped some markets into balanced or even buyers’ market territory.”

      In its report, the BCREA indicated huge declines in July 2022 sales in the Lower Mainland.

      These are Greater Vancouver, down 43.6 percent; Fraser Valley, 50.6 percent; and Chilliwack, 57 percent.

      “High mortgage rates continued to lower sales activity in July,” Ogmundson said.

      However, average prices managed to record annual increases in these three markets.

      In detail, Greater Vancouver was up 4.2 percent; Fraser Valley, 3.3 percent; and Chilliwack, five percent.

      The BCREA released this graph to illustrate what's happening in the housing market.

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