Vancouver Real Estate News

Latest real estate news from Vancouver BC and Canada by Jay Banks and his Vancouver Homes team

Home listings rise to start the spring season

A steady influx of new listings has helped create a balanced “typical spring” housing market in the Greater Vancouver region.

Residential property sales in Greater Vancouver totaled 3,137 in March 2010, an increase of 38.5% compared to March 2009, a 4.7% increase over March 2008, and a 12.4% decrease compared with March 2007 and a 26.8% increase compared to February 2010 when 2,473 sales were recorded.

Canadian Dollar Hits Parity

Canadian dollar by Nayu Kim
photo by Nayu Kim

The Canadian dollar, which (as a result of the crisis) weakened during the period of 2007 to 2009 against the U.S. dollar to a level of 1.3000 CAD / USD, now progressively strengthened and successfully reached parity with its U.S. counterpart. The last time the loonie traded with the U.S. dollar at the same level was on the 22nd of July 2008. Lately, the rising prices of oil were the main factor of reaching parity. Yesterday, the Canadian currency traded at C$1.0026 per U.S. dollar at 4:25 p.m. in Toronto, compared with C$1.0027 on April 9.