Vancouver by Maya Anas Yataghne

Looking at the Greater Vancouver housing market in July gave us a clear view on overall the home sale situation. The balance between home buyer and seller activity remained in an equilibrium range, but the home sale total went below the ten-year average for July.

Rosario Setticasi, REBGV president, says: “We’re seeing less multiple offer situations in the market today compared to the last few months, but our members tell us that homes priced competitively continue to sell at a relatively swift pace.” REBGV reports that residential property sales of detached, attached, and apartment properties on the region’s Multiple Listing Service® (MLS®) reached 2,571 in July, which is a fourteen per cent increase compared to the 2,255 sales in July 2010 and a 21.2 per cent decline compared to the 3,262 sales in June 2011. “It’s taking, on average, 41 days to sell a property in the region, which is unchanged from June of this year," Setticasi adds.

This month, new listings for detached, attached, and apartment properties in Greater Vancouver totalled 5,097. That means a 23.2 per cent increase compared to July of last year, when only 4,138 properties were listed for sale on the MLS® and a twelve per cent decline compared to the 5,793 new listings reported in June 2011.

On the topic of a ten-year, record-breaking average, last month’s new listing total was 8.6 per cent higher, while residential sales were 17.3 per cent below this ten-year average for sales in July.

Residential property listings saw an increase of 0.8 per cent in July compared to last month and a decline of 7.3 per cent from this time last year, totalling 15,226.

“The number of homes listed for sale in the region has increased each month since the start of the year, which is giving buyers more selection to choose from and more time to make decisions,” said Mr. Setticasi.

For all residential properties in Greater Vancouver over the last twelve months, the MLSLink® Housing Price Index (HPI) benchmark price has increased 9.2 per cent to $630,251 in July 2011 from the $577,074 of July 2010.

This month, detached property sales on the MLS® reached 1,099 — an increase of twenty-one per cent (there were 908 detached sales recorded in July 2010) and a 31.9 per cent decrease from the 1,614 units sold in July 2009. The benchmark price for detached properties increased to $898,886, which is a 13.3 per cent from July of last year.

Sales of apartment properties totalled 1,040 this July (a 6.2 per cent increase compared to the 979 sales in July 2010 and a decrease of 39.1 per cent compared to the 1,708 sales in July 2009), and the benchmark price of an apartment property increased 4.5 per cent from July 2010 to $405,306.

Last but not least, attached property sales in July 2011 totalled 432 — a 17.4 per cent increase from 2010 (368 sales), and a 45.5 per cent decrease from 2009 (792 attached properties sold). The benchmark price of an attached unit increased 6.9 per cent between July 2010 and 2011 to $524,909.