The Housing Price Index for July 2009 has just been released by the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver.  Here are the numbers for the West Side of Vancouver:

Property Type	Index Price	1 Year Change
Detached	$1,340,352	- 3.6%
Townhouse	$  699,385	- 4.5%
Apartment	$  469,550	- 2.6%

The current busy pace of the market reflects pent-up demand, particularly from First Time Buyers.  Many buyers sat on the fence last Fall and early this year, waiting for catastrophic predictions to come true.  As prices corrected and interest rates fell to record lows, buyers came back into the market, and with increased sales, inventory started to drop and continues to drop slightly week by week.

Year to date statistics (compared to 2008) show that the number of Detached units listed is down by 25% while the number of units sold is up by 35%.  The number of Townhome units listed is down by 14% and the number of units sold is up by 44%.  The number of Apartment units listed is down 27%, and the number of units sold is up by 10%.