Blue House by D'Arcy Norman

Although February sales in Greater Vancouver were only 151 sales below the ten-year average, they placed third lowest among February totals in the region since 2002.

Rosario Setticasi, REBGV president, commented on the situation: “With a sales-to-active-listings ratio of over 18 per cent, we see fairly balanced conditions in our marketplace as we move into the traditionally busier spring season.”

Residential property sales reached 2,545 on the Multiple Listing Service®, increasing by 61.4 per cent compared to January’s 1,577. This represents a 17.8 per cent decline compared to February 2011 sales, which reached 3,097 and 2.9 per cent increase from the 2,473 home sales in February 2010.

• Detached property sales (1,101 units) experienced a 21.5 per cent decrease compared to February 2011 (1,402 units) and a 12 per cent increase compared to February 2010 (983 units). The benchmark price increased 10.5 per cent from February 2011 to $1,042,900.

• Apartment property sales (1,020) declined 15.4 per cent compared to February 2011 (1,206) and 5 per cent compared to February 2010 (1,074). The benchmark price increased by 2.8 per cent from February 2011 to $373,300.

• Town home property sales (424 units) experienced a 13.3 per cent decline compared to February 2011 (489 units), and a 1.9 per cent increase compared to February 2010 (416 units). The benchmark price raised by 0.7 per cent since February 2011 to $472,800.

The MLS® HPI benchmark price for all residential properties in the Greater Vancouver Area has experienced a slight growth of 6 per cent over the last year, climbing up to $670,900 since February 2011, and a 0.9 per cent increase compared to January 2012. The benchmark price for all residential properties in the Lower Mainland is $601,300 — 5.5 per cent more than in February 2011.

New listings for detached, attached, and apartment properties amounted to 5,552 — reaching a 2.5 per cent reduction in growth compared to February 2011, when new listings amounted to 5,693. This represents a 3.5 per cent decline compared to January 2012, when 5,756 homes were added to the MLS® in Greater Vancouver. Last month’s new listing count was the second highest February total in Greater Vancouver since 1996.