Vancouver Property Sales Fall in 2018

The latest data for Vancouver property sales has now been released and shows a huge fall in 2018 for the Greater Vancouver area.

Once the boom property market of the world, Vancouver recorded a fall in property sales of a massive 31.6 per cent in 2018 when compared to the previous year.

The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV) figures released last week showed that property sales in the Greater Vancouver region has seen a fall to just 24,619.

This figure represents the lowest volume of annual property sales the area has seen since 2000, when Greater Vancouver’s population was about 20 per cent smaller than it is today.

Figures for the month of December paint an even bleaker picture, recording a fall in property sales of 46.8 per cent year-on-year compared to December 2017.

Prices are also down, with the average price for a detached property recording an annual fall of 7.8 per cent to $1,479 million.

The REBGV also warned of a potential oversupply of housing coming onto Vancouver’s market, just as buyer interest dries up. Market analysts have recently flagged this as a potential problem on the horizon for British Columbia’s economy.

REBGV president Phil Moore said: ‘We’ve had record building activity in recent years and many projects will complete soon. This will provide additional housing options for home buyers across the region.’

Due to the sales fall, Vancouver has now been confirmed as a buyer’s market, with the sales-to-active listings ratio, which measures homes sold as a percentage of homes on the market, falling to 10.4 per cent. Just a year ago, it was 29 per cent.

It is generally considered that anything below 12 per cent suggests that property prices will continue to fall.

Overseas property investors considering Vancouver may wish to keep their hands in their pockets until the fall is confirmed over. But if you do want to buy there could be plenty of discounted bargains to be had.