Realtor Ian Watt, who specializes in downtown Vancouver condos, where rising inventory has been more pronounced, said the median price in September decreased 10 per cent from previous month, and the median price decreased 14 percent from September 2019.
Housing starts across B.C. in September hit 25,308, down from 33,100 during the same period in 2019.
However, that is comparing housing starts in 2019 that ended up reaching a record high of 44,932, even though most forecasts, including that of the B.C. government, had been for the number at the end of the year to be around 35,000.
“If anything, new home construction has been remarkably strong given what normally happens in a recession,” said Brendon Ogmundson, the BCREA’s chief economist.
He sees the split in the market less pessimistically, but describes the economics as very unusual.
“Instead of seeing falling home sales and rising inventory as unemployment grew, we have been recording record high levels of sales and the supply of listings has fallen.”
He attributes this to “pent-up demand from sales that didn’t happen in the Spring, (very low) sub-2 per cent, 5-year fixed mortgage rates, and the asymmetric impact of the pandemic on the labour market. As of September, employment in high wage sectors was about three percent above pre-pandemic levels while low-wage sector employment was still about 7.5 per cent below pre-pandemic levels.”
As for the condo market, he said sales “are still strong, but that market also had pre-existing challenges before the pandemic due to strata insurance (issues). The impact of the pandemic on the rental market certainly elevates those challenges.”
