The five Vancouver neighbourhoods that have seen the largest increases in home values since the onset of the pandemic are all on the east side of the city, according to a new report.
City-wide, the average estimated value of homes increased by 18 per cent, recently released data from Properly shows. But in five east Vancouver neighbourhoods, the rate was far higher.
The report doesn’t always divide the city into neighbourhoods along the same boundaries as the City of Vancouver, but a map shows how the biggest increases were concentrated east of Main Street.
“Vancouver residents were increasingly likely to trade in their downtown properties to embrace more space,” the report says, also noting the jump in demand and prices in suburban markets.
“But as the market rebounds and pandemic restrictions lift, many residents are now seeking closer ties to the city’s day and night life, which ultimately drives up demand, and value, in the city core.”
In Hastings-Sunrise, values jumped by 36 per cent. A demographic profile of the neighbourhood based on 2016 census data noted this area was already seeing an increase in housing costs and household incomes pre-pandemic.
The housing stock consists of detached homes, townhouses and low-rise apartment buildings. Compared to the city as a whole, there is a lower proportion of renters, with 41 per cent of households rented, compared to 53 per cent city-wide.
South Vancouver and Killarney, two neighbourhoods south of 41st Avenue, saw increases of 35 and 34 per cent, respectively.
Killarney, according to the City of Vancouver, was historically a family-oriented, ethnically diverse area with a “high concentration” of detached homes and duplexes. It also has a lower rate of renters than the city-wide average. In 2016, there were more seniors living alone than there had been in the past and housing process were already rising.
The area identified as South Vancouver in the report doesn’t correspond to an area the city tracks demographics for.
Rounding out the top five are Renfrew at 32 per cent and Knight at 31 per cent. Neither of these correspond to a city-defined neighbourhood.
Whether home values will continue to rise as they have since the onset of the pandemic remains to be seen, with many experts predicting a market downturn in the near future.
“The pandemic had a huge impact on real estate – fuelling bidding wars, record-breaking prices, and low time spent on market in some regions,” the report reads.
“Right now, with interest rates rising, and buying and selling behaviour changing, we’re certainly seeing another shift, this time towards a more balanced market.”
TORONTO – One expert predicts Ottawa‘s changes to mortgage rules will help spur demand among potential homebuyers but says policies aimed at driving new supply are needed to address the “core issues” facing the market.
The federal government’s changes, set to come into force mid-December, include a higher price cap for insured mortgages to allow more people to qualify for a mortgage with less than a 20 per cent down payment.
The government will also expand its 30-year mortgage amortization to include first-time homebuyers buying any type of home, as well as anybody buying a newly built home.
CIBC Capital Markets deputy chief economist Benjamin Tal calls it a “significant” move likely to accelerate the recovery of the housing market, a process already underway as interest rates have begun to fall.
However, he says in a note that policymakers should aim to “prevent that from becoming too much of a good thing” through policies geared toward the supply side.
Tal says the main issue is the lack of supply available to respond to Canada’s rapidly increasing population, particularly in major cities.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17,2024.
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.
