Greater Vancouver ended 2022 with another month of prospective homebuyers taking a “wait and see” approach, which the region’s real estate board said pushed down sales by 52 per cent and prices three per cent from the year before.
“People were just waiting, waiting, waiting,” said Tirajeh Mazaheri, a Coldwell Banker Prestige Realty agent in Vancouver.
“On the buying side and the selling side, we noticed a lot fewer people have been motivated either to list or to purchase a property.”
She attributes much of the sluggish pace to a rapid succession of hikes to the country’s interest rate, which sits at 4.25 per cent — the highest it’s been since January 2008.
The increases, which also sparked mortgage rate hikes, have weighed on buying power, even as home prices have been on a steady descent.
The result is potential buyers sitting on the sidelines awaiting further price declines and reluctant sellers holding off listing properties unless they have to move because they want the sizzling sums their predecessors scored last year.
These sentiments are borne out in figures released by the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV). Last month’s sales totalled 1,295, about 20 per cent lower than they were in November and 38 per cent below the 10-year December sales average, according to the REBGV.
The figures contribute to the 28,903 sales made over 2022, 34 per cent lower than 2021’s total of 43,999.
A real estate agent says most buyers and sellers in the market are taking a ‘wait and see’ approach after a year of consistent interest rate hikes. (Ben Nelms/CBC)
Andrew Lis, the board’s director of economics and data analytics, says he will be watching prices this year to see if buyers and sellers have adjusted to higher borrowing costs and will wade into the market at last.
“Closing out 2022, the data shows that the Bank of Canada’s decisions to increase the policy rate … in 2022 has translated into downward pressure on home sale activity and, to a lesser extent, home prices in Metro Vancouver,” Lis said in a statement.
The REBGV says the composite benchmark price — which takes the rate of price changes into account — sits at $1,114,300. That is a three per cent decrease from December 2021 and a 1.5 per cent decrease when compared with November 2022.
Some sellers fear further price declines
“Right now, the prices have come down a very fair bit, people are thinking ‘OK, I’ll see a loss on my property of, let’s say, $200,000, but on the flip side, if I upgraded my property, I’ll get a discount of $500,000,” said Mazaheri.
She describes the people still in the market as either desperate to sell or buy or “cash ready.”
Others are pressing their luck with lowball offers.
“If it hits, it hits, and if it doesn’t, then at least they tried, but a lot of them are hitting because a lot of sellers are scared the market is going to go down further,” Mazaheri said.
Starting offers have typically been low because sellers and buyers are both trying to decipher how serious the other is about a deal given the market, added Tim Hill, a regional sales advisor for ReMax.
Some sellers are keen to take what they can get now because they fear further price declines.
“If you’re selling in today’s market, you have to be realistic about what you’re doing,” said Hill.
The REBGV is the real estate board responsible for Metro Vancouver — excluding Surrey and Langley — as well as the communities of Squamish, Whistler and the Sunshine Coast and Gulf Islands.
The government said the new homebuyer protection period is designed to give purchasers more time to arrange financing or home inspections after a deal has been accepted — details that were neglected in past sizzling housing markets, it said in a statement.
Mazaheri expects the policy won’t have much impact yet “because the power is in the buyers’ hands” already since sales are down so significantly.
HALIFAX – A village of tiny homes is set to open next month in a Halifax suburb, the latest project by the provincial government to address homelessness.
Located in Lower Sackville, N.S., the tiny home community will house up to 34 people when the first 26 units open Nov. 4.
Another 35 people are scheduled to move in when construction on another 29 units should be complete in December, under a partnership between the province, the Halifax Regional Municipality, United Way Halifax, The Shaw Group and Dexter Construction.
The province invested $9.4 million to build the village and will contribute $935,000 annually for operating costs.
Residents have been chosen from a list of people experiencing homelessness maintained by the Affordable Housing Association of Nova Scotia.
They will pay rent that is tied to their income for a unit that is fully furnished with a private bathroom, shower and a kitchen equipped with a cooktop, small fridge and microwave.
The Atlantic Community Shelters Society will also provide support to residents, ranging from counselling and mental health supports to employment and educational services.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 24, 2024.
Housing affordability is a key issue in the provincial election campaign in British Columbia, particularly in major centres.
Here are some statistics about housing in B.C. from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation’s 2024 Rental Market Report, issued in January, and the B.C. Real Estate Association’s August 2024 report.
Average residential home price in B.C.: $938,500
Average price in greater Vancouver (2024 year to date): $1,304,438
Average price in greater Victoria (2024 year to date): $979,103
Average price in the Okanagan (2024 year to date): $748,015
Average two-bedroom purpose-built rental in Vancouver: $2,181
Average two-bedroom purpose-built rental in Victoria: $1,839
Average two-bedroom purpose-built rental in Canada: $1,359
Rental vacancy rate in Vancouver: 0.9 per cent
How much more do new renters in Vancouver pay compared with renters who have occupied their home for at least a year: 27 per cent
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 17, 2024.
VANCOUVER – Voters along the south coast of British Columbia who have not cast their ballots yet will have to contend with heavy rain and high winds from an incoming atmospheric river weather system on election day.
Environment Canada says the weather system will bring prolonged heavy rain to Metro Vancouver, the Sunshine Coast, Fraser Valley, Howe Sound, Whistler and Vancouver Island starting Friday.
The agency says strong winds with gusts up to 80 kilometres an hour will also develop on Saturday — the day thousands are expected to go to the polls across B.C. — in parts of Vancouver Island and Metro Vancouver.
Wednesday was the last day for advance voting, which started on Oct. 10.
More than 180,000 voters cast their votes Wednesday — the most ever on an advance voting day in B.C., beating the record set just days earlier on Oct. 10 of more than 170,000 votes.
Environment Canada says voters in the area of the atmospheric river can expect around 70 millimetres of precipitation generally and up to 100 millimetres along the coastal mountains, while parts of Vancouver Island could see as much as 200 millimetres of rainfall for the weekend.
An atmospheric river system in November 2021 created severe flooding and landslides that at one point severed most rail links between Vancouver’s port and the rest of Canada while inundating communities in the Fraser Valley and B.C. Interior.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 17, 2024.
