Home sales in the Vancouver area fell in April and returned to more historically typical levels for the month — but sales figures in the Fraser Valley dropped to their lowest number in almost two years, according to regional real estate boards.
The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV) said Tuesday that residential home sales in the area it covers totalled 3,232 in April, down from 4,908 in April 2021 and 4,344 homes in March 2022.
The April sales were 1.5 per cent above the 10-year sales average for the month.
REBGV chair Daniel John said the return to a more traditional pace of home sales over the last two months provides hopeful homebuyers more time to make decisions, secure financing and perform other due diligence such as home inspections.
The board said there were 6,107 detached, attached and apartment properties newly listed for sale on the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) in the Vancouver area in April, down 23.1 per cent compared with April 2021 and down 8.5 per cent compared with March 2022.
The sales came as the MLS home price index composite benchmark price for all residential properties in the area was $1,374,500, up 18.9 per cent over April 2021 and a one per cent increase compared with March this year.
35% drop in the Valley
Meanwhile, property sales in the Fraser Valley dropped by more than 35 per cent compared to March, according to the Fraser Valley Real Estate Board (FVREB). It was the first month in which monthly sales fell below the 10-year average since June 2020.
“We would typically see a flurry of activity around this time of the year,” FVREB president Sandra Benz wrote in a statement.
“However, that’s not been the case so far. While it’s still too early to say whether this trend will endure, the slowing of sales combined with an increase in active listings is helping to restore a semblance of balance to the market, which is encouraging for homebuyers.”
The cities and areas covered by the REBGV statistics are Burnaby, Coquitlam, Maple Ridge, New Westminster, North Vancouver, Pitt Meadows, Port Coquitlam, Port Moody, Richmond, South Delta, Squamish, the Sunshine Coast, Vancouver, West Vancouver and Whistler.
The FVREB covers the communities of Abbotsford, Langley, Mission, North Delta, Surrey and White Rock.
OTTAWA – The Canadian Real Estate Association says the number of homes sold in August fell compared with a year ago as the market remained largely stuck in a holding pattern despite borrowing costs beginning to come down.
The association says the number of homes sold in August fell 2.1 per cent compared with the same month last year.
On a seasonally adjusted month-over-month basis, national home sales edged up 1.3 per cent from July.
CREA senior economist Shaun Cathcart says that with forecasts of lower interest rates throughout the rest of this year and into 2025, “it makes sense that prospective buyers might continue to hold off for improved affordability, especially since prices are still well behaved in most of the country.”
The national average sale price for August amounted to $649,100, a 0.1 per cent increase compared with a year earlier.
The number of newly listed properties was up 1.1 per cent month-over-month.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2024.
MONTREAL – Two Quebec real estate brokers are facing fines and years-long suspensions for submitting bogus offers on homes to drive up prices during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Christine Girouard has been suspended for 14 years and her business partner, Jonathan Dauphinais-Fortin, has been suspended for nine years after Quebec’s authority of real estate brokerage found they used fake bids to get buyers to raise their offers.
Girouard is a well-known broker who previously starred on a Quebec reality show that follows top real estate agents in the province.
She is facing a fine of $50,000, while Dauphinais-Fortin has been fined $10,000.
The two brokers were suspended in May 2023 after La Presse published an article about their practices.
One buyer ended up paying $40,000 more than his initial offer in 2022 after Girouard and Dauphinais-Fortin concocted a second bid on the house he wanted to buy.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 11, 2024.
MONTREAL – The Quebec Professional Association of Real Estate Brokers says Montreal-area home sales rose 9.3 per cent in August compared with the same month last year, with levels slightly higher than the historical average for this time of year.
The association says home sales in the region totalled 2,991 for the month, up from 2,737 in August 2023.
The median price for all housing types was up year-over-year, led by a six per cent increase for the price of a plex at $763,000 last month.
The median price for a single-family home rose 5.2 per cent to $590,000 and the median price for a condominium rose 4.4 per cent to $407,100.
QPAREB market analysis director Charles Brant says the strength of the Montreal resale market contrasts with declines in many other Canadian cities struggling with higher levels of household debt, lower savings and diminishing purchasing power.
Active listings for August jumped 18 per cent compared with a year earlier to 17,200, while new listings rose 1.7 per cent to 4,840.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 6, 2024.
