VANCOUVER -- The number of residential property sales has hit a 10-year low in Metro Vancouver leading the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver to declare a buyer’s market.
The announcement is significant since the board has in recent months been calling the market “balanced.”
According to the board’s June report, sales of houses and apartments dropped to 2,362 last month, a 27.6 per cent decline compared with 3,262 sales in June 2011, and a 17.2 per cent drop over the previous month of May.
“Overall conditions have trended in favour of buyers in our marketplace in recent months,” said Eugen Klein, the board’s president, in a news release on Wednesday.
“This means buyers are facing less competition and have more selection to choose from compared to earlier in the year.”
June sales were the lowest total for the month in the region since 2000 and 32.2 per cent below the 10-year June sales average of 3,484, the report shows.
New listings for detached, attached and apartment properties totaled 5,617 in June, a three per cent drop from the year before and an 18.9 per cent decline compared with the 6,927 new listings reported in May 2012.
“Today, our sales-to-active-listings ratio sits at 13 per cent, which puts us in the lower end of a balanced market,” said Klein.
He said the ratio has been declining in the market since March when it was 19 per cent.
The benchmark price for detached properties increased 3.3 per cent from June 2011 to $961,600, while apartments increased 0.3 per cent to $376,200.
Source: The Vancouver Sun, July 4, 2012.
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