March often sets the template for the year and this month it is signally home sales and prices rising faster than even Vancouver realtors expected, despite higher mortgage rates and a lack of listings.
There were 2,535 total housing sales across Greater Vancouver in March, just 300 fewer than in January and February combined, and price increases have already shattered projections for the year.
“On the pricing side, the spring market is already on track to outpace our 2023 forecast, which anticipated modest price increases of about 1 to 2 per cent across all product types,” said Andrew Lis, director of economics and data analytics with the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV).
“The surprising part” of this recent activity is that these price increases are occurring against a backdrop of elevated borrowing costs, below-average sales and lower listings, Lis noted.
The composite benchmark home price in March was $1.14 million, up 3 per cent – or $32,500 – from the end of January. The typical detached house price is now $60,500 higher than two months ago at $1,861,800.
Real estate agents are sensing a momentum building in the Greater Vancouver market. March sales, for instance, had reached 1,184 transactions at mid-month but that number had more than doubled by month end to the highest level since May of 2022.
Also, notes Kevin Skipworth, managing partner with Dexter Realty of Vancouver, March’s 57 per cent sales-to-listing ratio in key markets equals levels during the red-hot market of 2021.
“This is now a seller’s market for all types of property,” Skipworth said.
On the bellwether west side of Vancouver, he noted, total home sales in March were up 42 per cent from a month earlier and 131 per cent higher than in January 2023. The average March detached house price on the west side, which stretches from Quebec Street to the University of British Columbia campus, was $4.05 million, up from $3.52 million a month earlier.
Across Greater Vancouver, were 4,317 new listings for residential properties in March 2023 and the total number of homes currently listed for sale is 8,617, an 8.1 per cent increase compared to March 2022 but 17.3 per cent below the 10-year seasonal average.
“If home sellers remain on the sidelines, monthly sales figures will continue to appear lower than historical averages as we move toward summer,” Lis said. “With fewer homes coming on the market, homes sales will remain lower than we’re accustomed to seeing at this point in the year, almost entirely by definition.”
