Vancouver Leading a National Resurgence in Home Sales
With falling mortgage rates and housing prices, the national real estate market has clearly started to rebound. Leading all regions in Canada, Metro Vancouver saw a drastic 117 per cent raise in home sales from August of 2008 to August 2009. Recent statistics released by the Canadian Real Estate Association shows that 42,483 homes were sold in Canada in August of 2009 which is surprising to most real estate experts.
Metro Vancouver's dramatic increases in sales while appearing to lead the way to a national real estate resurgence are likely the result of a more complicated picture. First of all, many will remember that Vancouver real estate sales peaked much higher than most of the country and then dropped off very significantly as well. So while the low points in the local real estate market have been some of the worst across Canada so were the peaks and this generally typifies the scene in Vancouver.
Meanwhile, the real estate market serves as a kind of microcosm of the recession in general. The economic downturn was disturbingly sharp but the recession itself has been very short. Housing sales in Vancouver and Canada likely reflect this trend and with other market forces, like the Olympics, driving development in Vancouver the 117 per cent jump in resales was almost predictable.
The figures are as follows. In BC, 8,565 homes were sold this August which represents a 67 per cent hike from one year ago. Comparatively in Alberta, sales figures were also up but a mere 7.5 per cent from August of 2008. Likewise, Ontario and Quebec saw marginal improvements in their real estate pictures with 18,607 homes sold showing a 16 per cent increase and 5,709 homes sold representing a 5.2 per cent increase respectively. While the national picture is not as impressive as the improvements seen in Vancouver, the 42,483 resales tallied demonstrate not only an increase (of 18.5 per cent) in sales compared to last August but also the 3rd consecutive month that year-over-year gains have topped 15 per cent. Still, these improvement fall short of the peak set in August 2007 as we’re still about 6.6 per cent below the national figure for total sales.
Metro Vancouver's dramatic increases in sales while appearing to lead the way to a national real estate resurgence are likely the result of a more complicated picture. First of all, many will remember that Vancouver real estate sales peaked much higher than most of the country and then dropped off very significantly as well. So while the low points in the local real estate market have been some of the worst across Canada so were the peaks and this generally typifies the scene in Vancouver.
Meanwhile, the real estate market serves as a kind of microcosm of the recession in general. The economic downturn was disturbingly sharp but the recession itself has been very short. Housing sales in Vancouver and Canada likely reflect this trend and with other market forces, like the Olympics, driving development in Vancouver the 117 per cent jump in resales was almost predictable.
The figures are as follows. In BC, 8,565 homes were sold this August which represents a 67 per cent hike from one year ago. Comparatively in Alberta, sales figures were also up but a mere 7.5 per cent from August of 2008. Likewise, Ontario and Quebec saw marginal improvements in their real estate pictures with 18,607 homes sold showing a 16 per cent increase and 5,709 homes sold representing a 5.2 per cent increase respectively. While the national picture is not as impressive as the improvements seen in Vancouver, the 42,483 resales tallied demonstrate not only an increase (of 18.5 per cent) in sales compared to last August but also the 3rd consecutive month that year-over-year gains have topped 15 per cent. Still, these improvement fall short of the peak set in August 2007 as we’re still about 6.6 per cent below the national figure for total sales.
posted by VancouverResidence
