The latest release of the Housing Price Index shows a benchmarch price of $1,667,089 for Single Family Detached Homes on the West Side of Vancouver.  With a current inventory of only 422 detached homes, 320 of those homes are priced over $1,5 million.  The number of detached homes for sale is 39% lower than it was in February, 2009, while units sold are up 30%. 

In the past week, we saw a modest spike in new listings, however, many of those listings are 1 bedroom condominiums in the Downtown core.  Of the active "attached" listings, approximately 36% of the inventory is 1 bedroom condos, while 62% of all listings are priced over $500,000.

The Housing Price Index shows a benchmark price of $505,851 for condominiums, and $766,053 for townhouses.  Comparing February 2010 to February 2009, we have 23% fewer condos and 53% fewer townhouses listed for sale.  Unit sales of condominiums are up by 39% and townhouses are up by 45%.

Lack of supply, increased consumer confidence, and record low interest rates have put pressure on prices.  We need to see a lot more inventory, or a drop off in sales to ease rising prices.

Over the past week, the sale to list ratio was 37%, however, the low figure is reflective of sales reported in the final week of the Winter Olympics.  It seems that the Olympic lull is over and we will see increased sales in the weeks to come.