Vancouver's Real Estate Market has been hot this June 2009. Active listing volumes dropped for a fifth month in a row for all product types. Sales volumes increased for both apartments and attached listings for the fifth consecutive month but sales for detached homes were down from 232 to 200 for Vancouver west in June. The effect of the sustained falling listing volumes and continued robust sales has put attached and held detached and apartment types below 3 months of inventory. This strong 5 month trend has been fuelled by “pent up demand” (buyers who were waiting for the market to fall finally bought) and incredibly low interest rates. What should be remembered is that from a historical perspective this is most likely a spike in a graph that the future will probably show as a falling market (Take a look at 1996 on the 1997 to present graph). I do not expect this market to last for more than 6 months into the future. For those of you who want to sell and missed last springs high points, consider this a second chance to sell at near the market high.
Remember that: “Months of Inventory” is a measure derived from the number of active listings during a given month divided by the number of sales that month. It indicates the theoretical length of time it would take to sell all of the properties on the market if nothing changed. Historically, 0-5 months of inventory has meant generally upward price pressure for the ensuing six months, 5-8 months of inventory meant a flat market with respect to pricing and over 8 months of inventory has precipitated downward price pressure.
By: Sam Wyatt, Vancouver Realtor
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