Sun
Where those of us who own residential property may have been this year and where we might be for the rest of this year and next year were the subjects of news releases this week.
The brokers’ professional association, the British Columbia Real Estate Association, released two forecasts, for the rest of the year and for next year.
Multiple Listing Service volume will drop seven per cent to 79,500 sales this year and they will increase five per cent to 83,400 in 2011.
“Housing demand has fallen back to earth from its breakneck pace at the end of 2009 and is expected to more closely match overall economic performance over the next 18 months,” the news release comments.
“A larger inventory of homes for sale has created the most favourable conditions for home buyers in more than a year.
“However, the buyers’ market is expected to be short-lived as total active listings peaked in May and are beginning to wane, with more balanced conditions set to emerge in the fall.”
The association expects the value of the average MLS transaction to climb six per cent to $492,800 this year and decline one per cent to $489,500 next year.
The BCREA represents about 18,000 real estate agents in 12 member real estate boards around the province.
The organizers of a national survey of residential real-estate values created from repeat-sale information say that Canadian transaction-values surged 13.6 per cent in May from May, 2009. Vancouver led the increase, at 17.1 per cent.
The survey is called the Teranet-National Bank National Composite House Price Index. It is calculated from transaction-information collected from public land registries in six Canadian metropoli. Only dwellings that have sold at least twice are considered in the calculation.
“Since market conditions have been loosening across Canada — from April to June of this year, the number of existing homes sold declined much faster than the number of new listings –it is too early to conclude that the relatively vigorous prices rises of April and May mark the beginning of a trend,” a news release commentary says.
“The prospect of harmonized sales taxes coming into effect July 1 in Ontario and B.C. may have had the effect of pushing up sales in Vancouver, Toronto and Ottawa in the preceding months.”
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