Vancouver Market Update - October Newsletter

Market Update

What's Going on with the market?

Entering into October, a question that is being asked rather frequently is "Where is the inventory?". While mainstream media has been talking about rising inventory levels and a full fledged 'Buyer's market' for almost two months, the reality is that the statistics quite simply don't support it yet. The number of active listings across the board has been dropping since May and has really just levelled off in September without any noticeable increases in inventory levels at all. I admit that I am in fact a bit surprised by this as I have been expecting inventory levels to start to rise in the Fall and, while it may still happen, the market seems to have settled nicely in a fairly balanced state of affairs. With interest rates remaining low, and without a noticeable increase in active listings, it appears that things may remain this way through to the end of the year.

With this current stability, we are also seeing a levelling off with prices across the board. The one exception here is the downtown market, which saw a 13% increase in prices last month, though much of that increase can be attributed to the sales of several high end luxury homes that have skewed the number slightly. In spite of those sales, another interesting trend that we are seeing is a real slowdown in the higher price brackets. For both attached and detached properties, in both Vancouver West and Vancouver East, the absorption rate (ratio of active listings to sales in the past month) trails of noticeable as you look at higher priced homes in each category.

Please take a look through the new, more comprehensive statistics below and let me know if you have any questions. I think they will provide you with a better outlook and analysis of current happenings. Any suggestions or recommendations you have are always appreciated.