According to the REBGV, sales dropped 42.5 per cent last month compared to November 2017

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) — A local real estate analyst, who correctly predicted the average price of a detached home would significantly drop last year, is expecting that trend to continue.

The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver is reporting the region recorded its worst November in ten years and Dane Eitel with Eitel Insights says that’s largely because speculators are no longer interested in this market.

“So we’re not seeing the investors come to Vancouver and artificially inflate the prices because they know six months from now — a year from now — the prices aren’t going to be any higher than when they bought, so this area has become uninvestable.”

Eitel adds it has little to do with new taxes and other cooling measures imposed by various levels of government.

“The market had topped out on its own volition. Then we had government change, then we had stress tests, then we had foreign buyers’ tax. We had everything kind of thrown on it, so it was almost like kicking a lame dog. The dog was hurt anyway. You didn’t have to throw these exponential factors in.”

He’s also suggesting it is increasingly becoming a buyer’s market because this corrective trend will continue until 2023.

“You have to be sharp. You have to be in tune with where the market is headed rather than where it’s been, so with tonnes of supply out there, the buyers have the right to be choosy, the market is going to continue to trend downwards. This next year will be more of a pause phase.”

According to the REBGV, sales dropped 42.5 per cent last month compared to November 2017 with the benchmark price for a detached house now slightly more than $1.5 million.

The average condo sold for almost $668,000.