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Eugen Klein, REBGV president, commented on April market’s situation: “Although April sales were below what’s typical for the month, we continue to see, with a sales-to-active listing ratio of nearly 17 per cent, a balanced relationship between buyer demand and seller supply in our marketplace.”

The MLS® HPI benchmark price for all residential properties in the Greater Vancouver Area experienced a minor growth of 3.7 per cent over the last year, rising to $683,800 since April 2011, and a 2.8 per cent increase since February 2012. The benchmark price for all residential properties in the Lower Mainland is $612,000 — 2.6 per cent more than three months ago.

Residential property sales reached 2,799 on the Multiple Listing Service®, falling by 2.6 per cent compared to March’s 2,874. This represents a 13.2 per cent decline compared to April 2011 sales, which reached 3,225 and 8.4 per cent fall from the 3,137 home sales in April 2010. With 16,538, the total number of residential property listings on the MLS® raised by 8.5 per cent compared to March 2012 and increased 16 per cent from this time last year — leaving the situation almost identical to the last month.

• Detached property sales on the MLS® (1,126 units) experienced a 19.7 per cent drop compared to April 2011 (1,402 units) and a 17.8 per cent decline compared to April 2010 (1,370 units). The benchmark price increased 6.3 per cent from April 2011 to $1,064,800 .

• Apartment property sales (1,190) declined 0.9 per cent compared to April 2011 (1,201) and 22 per cent compared to April 2010 (1,526), while the benchmark price increased by 1.1 per cent from April 2011 to $375,900 .

• Town home property sales (483 units) experienced a 22.3 per cent decline compared to April 2011 (622 units) and a 21.6 per cent decrease compared to April 2010 (616 units). The benchmark price rose by 1.7 per cent since April 2011 to $487,300.

New listings for detached, attached, and apartment properties amounted to 6,056 — reaching a 3.6 per cent increase in growth compared to March, when new listings reached 5,843. This represents the same 3.6 per cent increase compared to April 2011, when 5,847 homes were added to the MLS® in Greater Vancouver.