Vancouver’s $1M-plus homes: in recovery

All of the signs are starting to show that Vancouver’s $1M-plus homes market is gradually starting to recover.

Sales have increased this year in July (up 23.5%) and August (up 15.7%) and the trend is set to continue.

Let’s break it down a little further:

• Top tier renewals: these are taking place in the $1M to $2M bracket

• The improvement in the above bracket for single family homes showed the most sales with a 45% year on increase; this is in no small part due to extremely competitive pricing.

• July and August Condo sales actually fell by 5% (Sales above $1M)

• The higher end sector continues to struggle with $4M plus homes sales down 32% in July and August though we are talking very small numbers of units (21 sold during this period in 2019)

So whilst the forecast is a positive one and things are looking up for prices and sales in the area, as always there are winners and losers and the granularity of the sales data always tells a far more intriguing story.

The forecasted upturn is not just a product of sales data and the recent upward trend however. Unemployment is as low as it has been in an awfully long time which has had a huge, positive effect on housing demand. Allied to this there is a terrific amount of pent-up buyer demand; with prices coming down in general, those for whom buying has just been a pipedream or fantasy proposition are suddenly able to start living their dream and get on the property ladder in the Vancouver area. Those with the wealth and resources to buy $1M plus homes are also getting far more bang for their buck so we’re seeing more people enter the market at these price points too.

Growth actually requires stability first and a balanced approach to the market and we’re seeing statistics like how long homes are on the market and the sales to listing type ratios really start to balance out and remain relatively outlier free. These figures suggest that the market is very much balanced and remaining so. September 2019’s sales figures also exceeded those of August’s and this is against the usual trend; it could just be natural variation or a blip of some sorts, but many respected sources are convinced it’s because the bottom of the market has been reached.