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According to the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV), detached home sales continued to fuel the market with strong sales occurring particularly in Richmond and Vancouver Westside. In January and February 2011, both the number of properties listed through the Multiple Listings Service (MLS?) and the amount of properties sold surpassed the 10-year average in Greater Vancouver.

Jake Moldowan, president of REBGV, said: “We saw an increase in demand across our region last month as more buyers entered the market in advance of the spring season. The intensity of this activity varied between communities. Our statistics tell us that single detached homes in Richmond and the west side of Vancouver remain the most sought after properties in our marketplace.”

The benchmark price of a typical detached house in Richmond was $1,099,679 in February 2011, which was an increase of $190,739 from November 2010. The benchmark prices for detached houses in Vancouver West rose in the same time by $222,185 to $1,850,072. The average benchmark detached home price for the whole region was $848,645 in February 2011, which was only $51,762 more than November 2010. The statistics show a major fluctuation of real estate prices and conditions within municipality limits, so it’s very important that both buyers and sellers focus on their neighbourhood when analyzing real estate, Moldowan claimed.

Residential property sales reached 3,097 on the MLS? for the Greater Vancouver region and for all the property types in February 2011, which was 70.3 per cent more than the 1,819 sales recorded in January 2011. The sales jumped by 25.2 per cent in February 2011 in a year-over-year comparison and grew by an astonishing 109.3 per cent compared to February 2009.

The selection for buyers to choose from is good thanks to a sizeable increase in the number of properties being placed on the market. The total number of properties listed on the MLS? in February 2011 reached 1,402, which was a 14.2 per cent increase compared to last month and a 5 per cent increase year-over-year. New listings in the Greater Vancouver Area totalled 5,693 for all residential housing types in February 2011, which was 23.6 per cent more than the 4,606 properties listed in February 2010.

Detached properties sold very well in February 2011, with 1,402 sales recorded on the MLS?, which is up 42.6 per cent from the 983 detached housing sales recorded in February 2010 and a jump of 138.9 per cent compared to the February 2009 detached sales number of 587 units. The price of a typical benchmark property listed rose by 6 per cent from February 2010 to $848,645.

Apartment property sales went up by 12.3 per cent on a year-over-year basis (1,074 sales) and recorded an 85.5 per cent rise compared to February 2009 (650 sales) with 1,206 units recorded in February 2011. The price of a typical property rose slightly by 2.2 per cent from February 2010 to $399,397.

Attached properties recorded 489 sales in February 2011, which is up 17.5 per cent from February 2010 (416 sales) and up 101.2 per cent from February 2009 (243 properties sold). The benchmark price for an attached property rose by 2.3 per cent year-on-year, reaching $507,118 in February 2011.