Home sales show signs of building up
Paul Luke
Province
The Lower Mainland’s housing market showed more signs of regaining its health last month, according to two new reports.
Rising buyer demand this year has sparked more home sales and eased the downward pressure on housing prices, the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver said yesterday.
Since the year began, the board’s benchmark price for all homes in Greater Vancouver has climbed 4.5 per cent to $506,201 from $484,211.
But home prices remain 10.9 per cent lower than May 2008, it said.
The number of homes sold in Greater Vancouver in May rose 17.4 per cent from May 2008 and 18.9 per cent from April, the board said.
“The increased level of buyer activity over the last few months has had a stabilizing effect on home prices across our region,” Greater Vancouver board president Scott Russell said.
The number of MLS listings last month was down 16 per cent from a year earlier and was 4.7 per cent lower than April, the board said.
Buyer appetite is also on the rise in the Fraser Valley as May sales rose 16.1 per cent from April. May’s 1,501 sales marked the highest sales volume in a year and the fourth consecutive monthly rise this year.
May’s sales are six per cent below the level of a year earlier but are much stronger than a few months ago, Fraser Valley Real Estate Board president Paul Penner said.
“We’re the closest we’ve been to a balanced market since early spring last year,” Penner said. “Sales have increased, inventory has dropped and prices are stabilizing.”
Realtors are seeing an increase in multiple offers but only on properties that are priced right, he said.
May’s benchmark price for a detached home in the Fraser Valley was $465,939, down 9.3 per cent from a year ago. The detached price climbed 1.2 per cent from April.
Townhouse and apartment benchmark prices in May shared this trend: year-over-year declines and small increases from April.
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