Experts say housing market sales returning to normal in Vancouver, Surrey
Posted September 14, 2021 12:34 pm.
SURREY (NEWS 1130) — Record-setting home sales across the province in the spring have slowed down.
The British Columbia Real Estate Association (BCREA) says the market is returning to normal, even though the supply of homes hit a new low last month.
Sales for August dropped more than seven per cent compared to a year ago, with listings down more than 40 per cent compared to normal levels for the month.
BC Home Sales Returning to Normal While Supply Hits Record Low in August: #BCREA reports that a total of 9,507 residential unit sales were recorded by the MLS® in August 2021, a decrease of 7.1 per cent over August 2020.
Read the full report here: https://t.co/rEtBH81lKM pic.twitter.com/i0HFJJqdIb
— BC Real Estate Association (@bcrea) September 14, 2021
The average price for a home in B.C. was a little over $900-thousand, up more than 17 per cent year-over-year.
For Metro Vancouver, the average home price was $1.17-million, a nine per cent increase compared to last August.
Even though prices remain high, the overheated buying market appears to be cooling.
“Home sales around the province have essentially returned to normal after a record-setting spring,” said BCREA Chief Economist Brendon Ogmundson.
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Vancouver Island is also seeing an unaffordability crisis, as the average Victoria home prices have also climbed. From $780,000 to $876,000 in a year, at a time where many people found themselves out of work during the pandemic.
The cost is being blamed on the decrease in active listings – a decline of more than 50 per cent over the year before occurred in Victoria. It’s the area with the biggest drop to active listings versus the year before.
B.C.’s Fraser Valley, which has seen a boom in home sales due to many people now working from home during the pandemic, have seen more than $160,000 jump to the average price. Last month, homes in that area were priced at close to a million dollars with an average listing price of $984,000.