Are Vancouver real estate woes over?
As has been the case throughout North America and even parts of Europe, the real estate market has seen dramatic drops in prices and sales over the past year but the Metro Vancouver market finally appears to be heading toward the light at the end of the tunnel. After 11 consecutive months of decline, June brought more sales and a rise in housing prices. In addition, three other major metropolitan areas in Canada have also shown signs of recovery prompting the National Bank of Canada to predict the worst of real estate deflation to be behind us.
Real estate statistics for June show that average housing prices in Vancouver increased about 1.6 per cent compared to May but were still down more than 10 per cent from August 2008. Still, across Canada there seems to be a definite shift back to a sellers market. Traditionally determined by the number of sales versus new listings, the past several months have clearly been beneficial for buyers. With a surplus of listings and favourable mortgage rates, first time buyers have been a major motivating force in the real estate market recovery. Experts at the National Bank consider the new real estate environment, one with fewer listings and more sales, to be suggestive of further improvement in home prices from month to month meaning that the worst of our real estate woes are likely over.
The Teranet-National Bank index, which is based on repeat or paired sales of homes thereby directly representing changes in value instead of the average value of homes sold in a month, has shown that the number of paired sales in Metro Vancouver has increased for the first time since May 2008. This also suggests a real estate market rebound. Again, it appears as if relaxed mortgage rates and sagging house prices has attracted buyers to the market. At the moment, the demand for houses is also improving due to economic optimism and low interest rates. In fact, average monthly mortgage payments have decreased by nearly 25 per cent since the end of 2007. Add this to the fact that interest rates are expected to remain low for the foreseeable future so buyers are not at risk of higher mortgage rates.
On a related note, real estate market trends are also indicating that the United States is also starting to see improvement. The subprime mortgage debacle, which luckily Canadians were spared from, saw staggering drops in housing prices as they fell more than 30 per cent from their highest values in 2006. For the past 2 months housing prices have been showing signs of a rebound as sales of new homes are exceeding expectations. In fact, July saw the largest increase in sales in the past 4 years as they increased by 9.6 per cent. A total of 433,000 homes were sold in July of this year.
Many experts are relating the improvement in the real estate market to overall economic recovery. Increasing housing prices are an indication that households have more to spend. Four of the major markets in Canada are seeing a return to strength which not only signifies an improved real estate market but perhaps an improving economy as well. Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, and Vancouver have all seen improved real estate numbers while Calgary and Halifax were the only areas to continue with declines.
Real estate statistics for June show that average housing prices in Vancouver increased about 1.6 per cent compared to May but were still down more than 10 per cent from August 2008. Still, across Canada there seems to be a definite shift back to a sellers market. Traditionally determined by the number of sales versus new listings, the past several months have clearly been beneficial for buyers. With a surplus of listings and favourable mortgage rates, first time buyers have been a major motivating force in the real estate market recovery. Experts at the National Bank consider the new real estate environment, one with fewer listings and more sales, to be suggestive of further improvement in home prices from month to month meaning that the worst of our real estate woes are likely over.
The Teranet-National Bank index, which is based on repeat or paired sales of homes thereby directly representing changes in value instead of the average value of homes sold in a month, has shown that the number of paired sales in Metro Vancouver has increased for the first time since May 2008. This also suggests a real estate market rebound. Again, it appears as if relaxed mortgage rates and sagging house prices has attracted buyers to the market. At the moment, the demand for houses is also improving due to economic optimism and low interest rates. In fact, average monthly mortgage payments have decreased by nearly 25 per cent since the end of 2007. Add this to the fact that interest rates are expected to remain low for the foreseeable future so buyers are not at risk of higher mortgage rates.
On a related note, real estate market trends are also indicating that the United States is also starting to see improvement. The subprime mortgage debacle, which luckily Canadians were spared from, saw staggering drops in housing prices as they fell more than 30 per cent from their highest values in 2006. For the past 2 months housing prices have been showing signs of a rebound as sales of new homes are exceeding expectations. In fact, July saw the largest increase in sales in the past 4 years as they increased by 9.6 per cent. A total of 433,000 homes were sold in July of this year.
Many experts are relating the improvement in the real estate market to overall economic recovery. Increasing housing prices are an indication that households have more to spend. Four of the major markets in Canada are seeing a return to strength which not only signifies an improved real estate market but perhaps an improving economy as well. Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, and Vancouver have all seen improved real estate numbers while Calgary and Halifax were the only areas to continue with declines.
Labels: Vancouver Real Estate
posted by VancouverResidence
