Market Update

August 2011

As the dog days of summer, along with some long overdue sunshine, kick into full gear, let's take a look at the July numbers. As would be expected going into the Summer months, sales activity has dropped substantially with declines from 14% to a whopping 50%. Detached homes in Vancouver Westside and North Vancouver, as well as North Vancouver condos were the hardest hit here. We are also seeing active listings creep up slightly, but nothing more than a few percent in any area. Prices mostly slipped across the board, with two notable exceptions: Detached homes in Vancouver Westside fell 10%, which would appear to be a natural correction after a ridiculous run of rising prices, while the average price Downtown surprisingly climbed by 19%. This is mainly attributable to a few ultra high-end sales and, when digging deeper, the median price Downtown actually dipped last month.

Looking into August, don't expect much to change. The real question remains what happens in September. This is a month where we typically see an upswing in activity, but it will be curious to see how all this bad press regarding the international markets plays out. I suspect we will remain relatively stable through the end of the year, but I will re-evaluate that statement as things unfold.

Enjoy the rest of Summer!

Rob

Unique Homes Blog

This house was designed for comfortable everyday living with a focus on sustanability. While simple in form the exterior utilizes a variety of low maintainence materials. The interior is organized around a large open entertaining area, which includes the kitchen, dinning room, and living room...

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Market Update

July 2011

With the summer market in full swing, it appears we are still waiting for the summer weather to catch up. As expected, it is much more of the same this month compared to last. Sales are down across the board, with the exception of the North Vancouver attached market which appears to be bucking the trend. Expect that to correct next month. Average sale prices and active listings are fluctuating across the board, but prices in most markets slipped slightly without enough dip to cause alarm. Everything we are seeing is typical for the seasonal nature of the Vancouver market and I expect to see a continuation of these trends for the next two months before an upturn in September.

Looking at the bigger picture, predicting the local market is beginning to require more and more knowledge of international financial markets. Using local trends to predict the market has quickly become a fool's game and many more factors must be taken in to account. We will have to keep an eye on foreign markets in the coming months, as they will likely play a larger role in the Vancouver market moving forward than rising mortgage rates will.

Any questions, ask away. And enjoy the summer!

Rob

Unique Homes Blog

Plastolux has gathered 20 modern kitchens from their past blog post.They posed an interesting question, "Let me ask you this, what one element of a kitchen from the flooring to the cabinets or even the appliances can make or break a modern kitchen for you?" - What do you think?

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Market Update

June 2011

Well, I was hoping we would be Stanley Cup champions by the time I sat down to write this month's newsletter, but I will certainly settle for the fact that we are still in the running! In fact, I think the Canucks playoff run added some much needed positivity to the city considering the awful run of weather we had through April and May. Let's hope the beautiful sunshine we've had to start June sticks around for awhile.

Now, on to the real estate market.... As discussed last month, the trend of decreasing sales volume continued through May with declines from 5% to 40%. It does appear that the early start to this year's Spring market has resulted in an early start to the Summer slowdown as well, which we now appear to be fully entrenched in. That said, the decreasing sales volume appears to be the only trend that is consistent across all market, so this month let's take a look at the individual markets a little more closely.

The Vancouver West detached market finally showed some signs of slowing of its torrid run to start the year. Sales dropped 17.1% while prices fell 8.7%, with active inventory remaining flat. The absorption rate remains high and the market here is still strong, but I expect to see further declines in this market moving forward. In the Vancouver West attached market, sales volume dropped a more dramatic 36.7% with prices slipping 9% and inventory climbing 6.7%. The declining sales here is not entirely unpredictable given the seasonality of the market, though the degree of the decline is more than expected. I suspect we may see a mild rebound in June and July.

The detached Vancouver East market showed the most resiliency this past month with sales slipping a mere 4.8% and prices down just 1.8%. Inventory actually dropped here as well, down 4.3%. Given the current disparity in prices between East and West, I believe this market will remain strong throughout the year. The Vancouver East attached market shows more similarity to its West side counterpart, with sales down 31%. This market, however, also shows inventory dropping 7.7% and prices that have actually climbed 2.4%. I would venture to guess that we will see these prices follow the downward trend next month.

Downtown, we saw a price rebound of 4.7% this month, after a significant drop last month, in spite of sales being down over 34%. Listing inventory remained flat, with less than a 1% change, so look for this market to remain stable over the Summer.

Taking a look at North Vancouver now, we see trends similar to the East side. The detached market showed modest declines in sales (10.7%) and prices (3.6%), but also displaying a dip in inventory of 4.1%. The attached market here took the hardest hit volume wise, with a 41.6% drop in sales and 7.6% increase in listing activity, but also saw prices climb 8.7% to an average $526,753. As with the East side market, look for those prices to slip downwards over the summer as well.

Much of the activity in the market right now can be attributed to seasonal factors, as the trends do follow in line with what we would expect historically. The exact timing this year has been moved up 4-6 weeks, but the general movement and scale of things falls within the expected range. Overall, homes that are priced well are still selling quickly and Buyers are seeing a little more selection than the beginning of the year presented. Enjoy the start of the Summer and let me know if you have any questions!

Rob