There will be no recovery in Metro Vancouver' slumping housing sales for at least six months.
Which is great news for investors, according to Vancouver-based real estate guru Ozzie Jurock, who presents a two-day Real Estate Action Group (REAG) seminar October 26-27.
Housing sales across Metro Vancouver have plunged more than 30 per cent this year from the heady days of 2011, and Jurock does expect a speedy upturn.
“Sales will not improve for at least four, perhaps six months,” Jurock said. He added that Vancouver is seeing the emergence of two separate housing markets: “the super rich and everybody else”.
The former is seen in record sales of homes priced at more than $3 million; the latter in a 33 per cent decline in MLS housing sales and a 17 per cent spike in listings as of September.
Jurock forecasts that average Metro Vancouver house prices will drop 10 per cent this year, while resale condominium prices will fall 15 per cent from a year ago, and 20 per cent from the peak seen in early 2011.
Developers of new condo projects will be offering incentives to buyers in a glutted market over the next few months, he said, and buyers who haggle hard can get some bargains today.
Jurock believes Vancouver housing prices will increase over the next three to 10 years, due to inflation, offshore buyers and a strong B.C. economy. “The best deals are always found in down markets,” he said.
The October REAG seminars will include information on how to buy houses and even apartment buildings with no money down, according to Jurock.
