VIDEO: Vancouver Real Estate Market Update – November / December 2020
Dear Reader,
Our lockdown continues until January 8th, 2021. Wishing you and your loved ones a safe and healthy holiday season.
From the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver:
Vancouver, B.C. – December 2, 2020 – Housing demand in Metro Vancouver* continues to outpace historical averages with November sales eclipsing 3,000 for the first time since 2015.
The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV) reports that residential home sales in the region totalled 3,064 in November 2020, a 22.7 per cent increase from the 2,498 sales recorded in November 2019, and a 16.9 per cent decrease from the 3,687 homes sold in October 2020. Last month’s sales were 24.6 per cent above the 10-year November sales average and was the second highest total in this period.
“Home buyer demand has been at near record levels in our region since the summer,” Colette Gerber, REBGV Chair said. “This is putting upward pressure on home prices, particularly in our detached and townhome markets.”
“The supply of homes for sale are a critical factor in understanding home price trends,” Gerber said. “The total number of homes for sale in Metro Vancouver is lagging behind the pace of demand right now. This trend favours home sellers in today’s market.”
“While demand remained elevated across the region, home buyer activity was particularly focused in more remote areas like the Sunshine Coast, Gulf Islands and Squamish,” Gerber said. “The rise of work-from-home arrangements and physical distancing policies is causing some home buyers to opt for less densified areas.”
It would be wise to keep in mind that these statistics are very general, taking the average from all sub areas in the Metro Vancouver market. Please reach out to us if you’d like a complimentary assessment of your property to see if it falls into these categories.
Also important to note, With the arrival of viable vaccines, we may see the Canadian economic recovery materially accelerate in the second half of 2021. If that occurs, the first stage of tighter monetary policy from the Bank will be how and when it decides to taper purchases of government bonds over the next year. As it does, we may start to see a divergence in variable and fixed rates by early summer as bond yields rise and fixed mortgage rates move marginally higher, according to BCREA and the Bank of Canada interest rate announcement.
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