The Best Time To Buy A Home In Vancouver

The cost of real estate in Vancouver continues to rise and while nobody can predict what will happen with house prices with any great certainty, you can be clever about how you access the market and how much money have to work with.

Timing the market can be an idea that is fraught with danger, but there is good evidence that being a seasonal buyer can work in your favour. For example, it’s widely known that you can often get a better deal in February as compared to other months.

So why buy a home in February?

Well it’s a simple case of supply and demand. Who wants to move house in the winter? In fact, who even gets excited by it in winter? Who is even looking? Not as many people as we would like as Vancouver realtors!

The other thing to take into account is the post-Christmas and New Year effect; these are times of the year where money is spent, not saved, and credit cards are maxed out. Buying a home is not on most peoples’ agenda.

Savvy buyers see this as a pure opportunity to get a great deal however. Although any realtor worth their salt will advise their clients to hold off selling until near the warmer months, some sellers just have no choice and they have to press on. This means fewer buyers to compete with and quicker, less bothersome sales.

You can avoid bidding wars and you won’t be held up by rival buyers kicking their heels and holding proceedings up.

So February really is a unique opportunity in the calendar year to find yourself a great deal on your new home; yes the stock out there may not be the most varied or a true reflection of what will be available in six months’ time, but this is more than compensated by the fact that there are fewer rival buyers to compete with and you will likely be dealing with a buyer who wants a relatively quick and painless sale.

What if I miss February?

Well don’t get down about it! February certainly isn’t the be all and end all of when to buy a house and it is genuinely more important that you exercise financial control and stick to whatever budget you’ve set. Just think of a February sale as the icing on the cake; something that might pay off for you, but it probably isn’t the end of the world if you end up closing on the 10^th of March!

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For more Vancouver real estate tips, contact Paul Eviston (604-737-8865) or his team of Vancouver real estate agents at Remax Select Properties. Our office is located in Kerrisdale, Vancouver and we specialize in Downtown Vancouver, East Vancouver and Westside Vancouver real estate.  

Learn more in our real estate blog.