Vancouver home prices rise 5% in 2023 with listings near record lows

By
Millicent Wong
-
0
273
financial post

  1. property
  2. mortgages

April registrations were down 30% year-on-year

Published on May 02, 2023 • Last updated 27 minutes ago • 2 minutes read

A real estate sign in Vancouver, BC A real estate sign in Vancouver, BC Photo by Jonathan Hayward/The Canadian Press files

Prices in the Vancouver housing market continued to rise in April as the number of homes for sale remained below historical levels, according to monthly data released on May 2.

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Figures from the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver showed that composite prices for the region rose 2.4% to $1,170,700 from $1,143,900 in March, while April registrations rose 30% from a year earlier declined, keeping the market tense what is usually a busy spring sales season.

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“When we released our market forecast in January, we were one of the few companies to take the opposite view that prices were likely to rise in 2023,” said Andrew Lis, the Real Estate Committee’s director of economics and data analysis, in a press release. “And what we’re seeing so far this year is consistent with our prediction that near-record low inventories would create a competitive environment where almost any rebound in demand would result in a price escalation, despite the environment of elevated borrowing costs.”

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Lis said home prices are up 5 percent year-to-date, beating an earlier Housing Committee forecast of a 1-2 percent increase by the end of the year.

“The core problem that remains is that there is far too little resale supply available compared to the pool of active buyers in our market,” Lis said.

Vancouver’s board of directors isn’t the only market participant to see its price forecasts turned upside down.

Estate agent Royal Lepage recently raised its national price forecast for 2023, forecasting that the total year-end price of a home will be 4.5 percent higher in the fourth quarter than in the final quarter of 2022. Royal Lepage previously forecast a modest 1 percent decline for the same period .

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Vancouver’s April results followed a similar increase in March, when prices rose 1.8 percent from February.

Even if the first four months could indicate a market revival, sales and prices are still well below the results of the previous year.

The board reported that Greater Vancouver residential home sales fell 16.5 percent to 2,741 units from 3,281 in April 2022 and were 15.6 percent below the 10-year seasonal average.

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The benchmark composite price for all residential properties in Metro Vancouver fell 7.4 percent from April 2022.

“However, the year is far from over and it remains to be seen if these price hikes will continue into 2024,” Lis said.

• Email: [email protected] | Twitter: gsuhanic

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