Prices fall as Vancouver has worst year for home sales since 2000

Prices for Metro Vancouver condominiums, or apartments, were up 0.6% compared with a year ago, but they have fallen 6.4% since June | Glen Korstrom

Metro Vancouver’s sluggish residential real estate market continues to endure slow sales, with 2018 notching a mere 24,619 homes that transacted. There has not been that few homes that sold in the region during a calendar year since 2000, according to the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV).

That tally is also 31.6% down from the 35,993 homes that sold in 2017, and 38.4% down from the 39,943 homes that sold in 2016, the REGBV noted on January 3.

The decline in sales steepened as the year went on.

December’s total of 1,072 home sales in the region is 46.8% down from the 2,016 sales that took place in the same month in 2017.

That sales total for December is also 43.3% below the 10-year average for sales in that calendar month.

“As the total supply of homes for sale began to accumulate in the spring, we began to see downward pressure on prices across all home types throughout the latter half of the year,” Moore said.

Indeed, the benchmark price for a combination of all homes in the region ended the year at $1,032,400 – 2.7% down from a year ago.

Detached single-family homes suffered the biggest price decline at an average of 7.8%, compared with a year ago, and 7.3%, compared with June.

In contrast, prices for apartments edged up 0.6% compared with a year ago. Townhomes increased in value by about 1.3% compared with a year ago.

Those two latter classes of home have also endured price pressures in recent months, however. Apartment prices have fallen 6.4% since June, while townhomes have fallen in value by about 5.3% in the last six months, according to the REBGV.

gkorstrom@biv.com

@GlenKorstrom