The October real estate statistics have been released and there was some interesting insights this month.
- Lowest benchmark home price: New Westminster at $809.900
- Highest number of Greater Vancouver sales since June 2022
- Benchmark home price is down 9.2% from six months ago
- North Vancouver average home prices up 8.5% from September
- West side detached house sales highest in six months
- Immigrate surge will drive housing demand higher
The October housing market in Metro Vancouver revealed an economic truism: ‘the cure for higher prices is higher prices’ and that cure is bringing local housing sales and starts back to balance after a rollercoaster year.
This has swung to a buyers’ market that is gaining momentum and may soon appear irresistible.
Cast your memory back to the misty past of 9 months ago, when the benchmark detached house price in Greater Vancouver was $2.04 million, multiple offers were more common than not, property sales were cresting over 3,400 a month and monthly new condo starts were running above 650 units.
Higher prices and interest rates changed everything.
By October 2022, the detached house price had fallen to $1.89 million, housing sales were down to 1,903 for the month and multiple offers are less common. New condo starts dropped 30% from February to just 458 in October as builders struggled with soaring land and construction costs. The only number higher is the mortgage rate, which has basically doubled after six increases, the latest on October 26.
We are now seeing the ramifications of higher prices and the news for home buyers is now quite positive.
\
What have we learned this month? It’s an incredible time to get proactive on the idea of making a purchase and getting that dream home you’ve been on the fence about. Yes its unfortunate that interest rates have gone up but as a reflection, the prices have dropped significantly- certain types of real estate are impacted much more than others! Please call me anytime to discuss… I’m here to help you.
