The city reported 2,333 homes sales in the month, down 5% from last year, according to the Greater Vancouver Realtors.

At the same time, the city saw a 20% surge in new listings totalling 5,597 detached, attached and apartment properties. This has resulted in a 39% surge in active listings to a total of 14,326, more than 21% above the 10-year average.

“The trend of buyers remaining hesitant, that began a few months ago, continued in the July data despite a fresh quarter percentage point cut to the Bank of Canada’s policy rate,” said Andrew Lis, GRV director of economics and data analytics.

“With the recent half percentage point decline in the policy rate over the past few months, and with so much inventory to choose from, it’s a bit surprising transaction levels remain below historical norms as we enter the mid-point of summer,” he added.

Vancouver home price pressures are easing

For all property listing types, the sales-to-active listings ratio is now 16.9%. The GRV report pointed to historical data that suggests downward pressure on home prices when the ratio dips below 12% for a sustained period and upward pressure when it surpasses 20% over several months.

“With the overall market experiencing balanced conditions, and with a healthy level of inventory not seen in quite a few years, price trends across all segments have leveled out with very modest declines occurring month over month,” Lis said.

The benchmark price for all residential properties in metro Vancouver was $1,197,700 in July, down 0.8% on both an annual and monthly basis.

“While it remains to be seen whether softening prices and improved borrowing costs will entice buyers to purchase as we head into the fall market,” Lis added.

“It’s worth noting that it can take a few months for improvements to borrowing costs to materialize into higher transaction levels.”

british columbia Greater Vancouver Realtors Regional vancouver vancouver home prices vancouver home sales vancouver housing market

Last modified: August 8, 2024