Vancouver Property Composite Index Drops Below $1 Million

The Vancouver property composite index dropped below $1 million in October despite growing real estate sales in the region.

As the extra taxes imposed on overseas property investors continues to bite, the Greater Vancouver area’s property composite index price was down 6.4 per cent from a year ago to $994,900.

In contrast, the Greater Toronto area (GTA) saw its property composite index rise by 5.6 per cent to $814,400, while Ottawa recorded the highest price gains of major cities in Canada with a 10.25 per cent climb to $436,300.

Nationally, the property composite index price was up 1.77 per cent to $633,600 across Canada, despite declines in parts of British Columbia as well as in major cities in Alberta and Saskatchewan.

The Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) says the number of property sales was up 12.9 per cent nationally in October compared with the same month last year.

It says sales activity last month was almost the same as for September, but up almost 20 per cent from a six-year low reached in February. Canadian residential property sales are still about seven per cent below the heights reached in 2016 and 2017.

The Canadian Real Estate Association says sales activity was mixed across the country as growing sales in Greater Vancouver, the B.C. Fraser Valley, and Ottawa, was offset by a monthly decline in the Greater Toronto Area and Hamilton-Burlington.

The Canadian Real Estate Association also confirmed that the number of new residential property listings was down by 5.8 per cent in October compared with last year, and down 1.8 per cent from the previous month of September.

Overseas property investors not residing in the country are required to pay extra tax of up to 15 per cent when buying existing residential properties in both the Greater Vancouver and Greater Toronto areas of Canada.