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“This looks like a classic hump-shaped housing market, when you have an upturn followed by a downturn,” he said on Tuesday.

The drop in sales “could drag on for a while because owners of single-family homes can afford to sit on their homes. Usually, it takes a few months of sluggish listings before the prices drop. No one wants to sell his house for less than the guy who just sold his house.”

If the foreign homebuyers’ tax, which was passed on Aug. 2, scares off purchasers and stricter mortgage qualifying rules that the federal Liberals announced this week make it harder for first-time buyers, the market could continue to be squeezed at both the high and low ends, said Davidoff.

Ottawa also announced this week it will be ensuring buyers claiming tax exemptions for capital gains on their homes as their primary residences are actually entitled to the cheaper tax rate.

Sales last month of all home types slowed year-over-over, overall in the Fraser Valley by 24 per cent, and in Metro Vancouver by 33 per cent, according to the new numbers.

The drop was more dramatic in certain areas, and especially with detached houses.

For instance, across Surrey, the number of detached homes sold dropped 56 per cent compared to a year ago, with South Surrey/White Rock getting hardest hit with a 66-per-cent drop, followed by Surrey Central at 60 per cent.

And in West Vancouver, sales of detached houses dropped 67 per cent, while in Vancouver East, sales fell nearly 57 per cent. On the West Side, there was a drop of 52 per cent compared to September 2015.