The Olympic period increased home sales activity in Vancouver

Published on 03-09-2010 Comments(0) Full article

According to a news release sent on March 2nd by the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver, The Greater Vancouver housing market continued to experience strong demand from homebuyers and an increase in total property listings in a month where the eyes of the world were focused on the region.

The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV) reports that residential property sales in Greater Vancouver totalled 2,473 in February 2010, an increase of 67.1 per cent compared to February 2009 when 1,480 sales were recorded and a 28.6 per cent increase compared to the 1,923 sales recorded in January 2010.

Over the last 12 months, the MLSLink® Housing Price Index (HPI) benchmark price for all residential properties in Greater Vancouver increased 19.7 per cent to $581,911 from $486,054 in February 2009. This price is 2.4 per cent above the previous high point in the market in May 2008 when the residential benchmark price sat at $568,411.

"We don't know at this point what long-term impact the Olympics will have on our housing market, but we do know that activity in our market remained steady through all of the excitement and distraction of the last few weeks," Scott Russell, REBGV president said.

"In February, for example, 110 sales were recorded on the MLS® in downtown Vancouver. That's higher than 2009 and slightly lower than the mid-2000s, which is consistent with data from the overall market. It's too soon to say whether that's an Olympic effect," Russell said.

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MLS under fire, what do you think?

Published on 02-10-2010 Comments(1) Full article

Time for an Open Source MLS?

CREA is under fire by the Canadian Competition Bureau, it looks like the MLS might be forced to open up a little.

Predictions for 2010

Published on 12-22-2009 Comments(4) Full article

Flickr photo by Tim in Sydney.This morning in my inbox I found this opinion piece from Inman News: Real estate wish list, predictions for 2010Reading through the predictions, I was struck by how many real estate professionals avoid commenting on social media and marketing changes in the...

New-home prices are edging up again

Published on 11-12-2009 Full article

According to Statistics Canada's report on Thursday, Metro Vancouver new-home prices edged up again in September compared with August, as buyers continue to jump into the market and builders launched more new products.

The same report says average contract prices in the region gained 1.4 per cent compared with August, although average prices are still 6.4 per cent below prices in the same month a year ago.

"In Vancouver, prices continued to increase as some builders moved to new phases of development," the agency's housing-price-index report said.

"Others raised their list prices as consumer interest increased and market conditions continued to improve."

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Home sales up 16.4 per cent in May

Published on 06-16-2009 Comments(0) Full article

According to the latest report of the Canadian Real Estate Association, home sales in Metro Vancouver jumped 16.4 per cent in May from a year earlier.



“Inventory levels are still high in many markets, but fewer new listings and rising sales activity suggests that the selection of homes available for sale may shrink as the year progresses,” said Gregory Klump, chief economist at CREA.

“The supply of homes up for sale needs to be drawn down further before average price increases become more widespread among local markets.”

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