The Inside Scoop....

As is typical this time of the year, the amount of new listings coming to the market has declined over the past week.  Although the total listing count in the West Side is stable at 2,096, the number of detached homes for sales has dropped by 17% since the end of October, keeping pressure on prices.  Pricing on condominiums seems to be levelling off for the time being.  The sale to list ratio over the past week was 78%, not too bad for this time of year.

One year ago today, there were 969 Detached homes for sale in the West Side of Vancouver.  Bank Prime was 4%, and the posted mortgage rate for a 5 year term was 7.2%.  In the first 23 days of November last year, only 22 detached homes sold, and prices were in a seeming freefall, with no telling where the bottom of the market was.  Negativity in the Media was rampant and honestly, quite depressing. Fast forward 12 months.  Today, there are only 475 Detached homes for sale in the West Side, and ... Full Article...

The market continues at a fairly consistent pace, with (lower) inventory levels being relatively constant since mid July, 2009.   Week Ending Nov. 6/09 Nov. 13/09 New Listings 208 184 Sold Listings 198 154 Sale to List Ratio 95% 83% Total Inventory 2,149 2,161 I am often asked about the impact of the Olympics on prices of real estate in Vancouver.  My hunch is that post-Olympics, it will be business as usual.  I expect that during the Olympic and Paralympic Games, we will see a slow dow ... Full Article...

The Housing Price Index for the month of October, 2009 has just been released by the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver.  Indexed home prices for the West Side are: Detached Homes - $1,491,294 (up 16.6% in the past year) Townhouses - $722,981 (up 14.6% in the past year) Condos - $489,773 (up 9.2% in the past year)

Market activity on the Westside has been fairly consistent over the past few weeks.  Listing counts are flat, at 2,234.  232 New properties came to market last week, and 169 were sold, a sale to list ratio of 72%.  We are still seeing some multiple offers on choice properties, but not to the degree that we experienced from June to August.