Mortgage broker David Ford thinks he has found the right way to describe the Lower Mainland’s market for single-family homes.

“Detached housing is BANANAS.

“It’s real estate pandemonium,” he writes in his latest Shop Talk newsletter for clients, realtors and financial advisers.

It’s not just single-family homes that are hot. Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson and former wife Amy received five offers recently for their 1,666-square-foot Stephens St. half-duplex in Kits with ocean views, purchased in 2013 for $1.57 million. Listed for $1.798 million. Sold for $1.982 million.

Says Ford, who works for Verico, a national mortgage broker with its head office in Vancouver: “I started in September of 2008 and I have never seen the market like this.”

The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver says 2015 marked the strongest April for home sales in a decade.

The board pointed to “an elevated level of buying activity this spring” and is predicting 2015 home sales will be at their highest level since 2007.

With inflation running at just one per cent in Vancouver, the price for all types of residential units rose 8.5 per cent between April 2014 and April 2015.

The real estate board says prices are being pushed higher by competition for detached homes, with demand outpacing a constricted supply. The Conference Board of Canada on Monday declared Vancouver a “sellers’ market.”

The typical price for a detached home across the region rose 12.5 per cent this year, and stands at nearly $1.1 million, which is indeed “bananas.” It also helps explain Sunday’s #donthave1million rally downtown.

Says Ford: “Multiple offers are everywhere on detached housing. I hear crazy stories.”

Ford says that as many as 100 people can show up for an open house, and competitive bids for detached houses are becoming common even in far-flung areas of the region.

“Everyone has heard of multiple (bids) in Vancouver but it’s now spread to all areas of Greater Vancouver. Inventory is scarce at the moment and price points have pushed buyers to areas like Surrey, Langley, Delta.”

One client lost out on a Langley home after bidding $487,000 on a home listed for $479,000. Three others were bidding at the same time.

Another client bid $600,000 on Langley home priced at $599,000, subject only to an inspection. The bid was not successful against three others.

A Cloverdale home, priced at $679,000, sold for $720,000 after his client submitted a losing bid of $700,000 with no subjects. The client’s bid was one of 10 offers.

In the current market, Ford typically is arranging mortgages for “the high $300,000,” but he has had clients who arrange mortgages as high as $700,000 or $750,000.

The default rate for mortgages in Canada is less than one per cent, Ford says, noting that buyers are being assisted by revenue from basement suites and laneway unit rentals, which can increase monthly income by $1,800 or more.

The mortgage broker himself, now living in a Cloverdale condo, says he is looking to purchase a one-bedroom condo in downtown Vancouver, with a budget of $450,000. He has no qualms about taking on a $400,000 mortgage to do it.

As long as people hang on to their investment for a while, he says, they will be fine because land in Vancouver has always appreciated.

Ford’s own grandfather purchased a Richmond home in 1961 for $15,500. It is now valued at more than $1 million.

The mortgage broker pointed to a recent statement by Laurence D. Fink, head of the world’s biggest asset manager, BlackRock Inc., reported by Bloomberg News. Fink was quoted as telling a conference in Singapore: “Historically, gold was a great instrument for storing wealth,” but no more.

“The two greatest stores of wealth internationally today is contemporary art and two, the other store of wealth today is apartments in Manhattan, apartments in Vancouver, in London.”

byaffe@vancouversun.com