VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – Maybe you’ve heard they’ve stabilized, but a local realtor doesn’t think housing prices have bottomed out in Metro Vancouver.
Realtor Steve Saretsky says prices are still being negotiated lower, noting some developers are even cancelling projects.
“Nobody notices if prices are declining, like, maybe half a per cent a month, right?” he says. “I mean, at the end of the year you’re down six per cent, so it’s like nobody really notices, it’s so hard to calculate.”
He says because the prices haven’t bottomed out, buyers and sellers are still at odds.
“Buyers are trying to get next year’s price and sellers are trying to get last year’s price. That’s kind of what’s happening in the market, that’s partially why you have like no sales.”
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Saretsky says while we’ve seen the largest drops in higher-end houses and condos, the downward trend has been seen in other condos as well. He adds a spring market doesn’t usually see big drops.
“With June now just wrapping up, that signals the last bit of the busy year that we generally see,” he says. “Typically speaking, July and August are generally slow months for the real estate market.”
Saretsky says the number of home sales in June in Greater Vancouver was the lowest it’s been since 2000, and he thinks the trend will likely continue over the coming months.
