Buyers Demand Surges in October ANCOUVER, BC – November 4, 2024 – After months of tracking approximately twenty per cent below the ten-year seasonal average, Metro Vancouver1 home sales surged more than 30 per cent year-over-year in October. “Typically, reductions to mortgage rates boost demand, and the strong October sales numbers suggest buyers may finally be responding to lower borrowing costs after waiting on the sidelines for months,” Andrew Lis, GVR’s director of economics and data analytics said. “To some market watchers, this rebound may come as a surprise, but with four consecutive rate cuts from the Bank of Canada – and more likely to come on the horizon – it was only a matter of time until signs of renewed strength in demand showed up.” Across all detached, attached and apartment property types, the sales-to-active listings ratio for October 2024 is 18.8 per cent. By property type, the ratio is 13.4 per cent for detached homes, 22.5 per cent for attached, and 22.2 per cent for apartments. Analysis of the historical data suggests downward pressure on home prices occurs when the ratio dips below 12 per cent for a sustained period, while home prices often experience upward pressure when it surpasses 20 per cent over several months. “While the strength in October's numbers is encouraging, one data point does not make a trend," Lis said. "Recent data shows that market conditions have been decidedly balanced, with prices easing over the past few months. With the recent uptick in sales however, the attached and apartment segments are now tilting toward a seller’s market with the detached segment not far behind, suggesting the recent period of price moderation may be nearing an end."
Hello!
The above is from the Greater Vancouver Realtors Monthly Statistics letter.
Starting from just a few days before the last Federal Interest Rate cut of 50 basis points (-0.5%), the market was noticeably picking up. Our phones started ringing more than normal, there were more scheduled showings on properties that are correctly priced, and ultimately offers started coming in. We had noticed this in advance, and informed all our existing clients to take advantage by relisting immediately to capture this wave of activity, and run a fresh marketing campaign. Because of this, we had sold a good number of our listings just in the last week.
This may simply be a blip of sudden activity – time will tell. However, it’s quite apparent that this will last until the holidays in a month and a half. If you’ve been sitting on the sidelines, or have removed your listing due to the low activity in the last few months and want to give it a good push, give us a call and we can tailor a specific marketing strategy that’s efficiently designed for this small window of opportunity.
What we’ve been seeing is the homes in the lower price bands (Condos & Townhomes) are definitely picking up activity-wise, however the single detached market is still lagging behind. Hopefully with more rate cuts on the way, the detached market will start to catch up.
With the uptick in activity, prices are still holding flat. The reason being that there was an over-abundance of supply accumulated in the last few months, that despite the demand surge, it still has not caught up quite yet. Although sales outpaced NEW supply substantially in the last couple of weeks in most areas, the stats do not include EXISTING supply that we need to take into account.
The market is active once again, in select price bands. Please give us a call or reply to this email if you would like to chat about your plans, whether it’s right away or in the New Year. We would love the opportunity to tailor a specific plan for your timing and needs.
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