Vancouver sales activity is feeling the pinch

Demand has been noticeably affected by red-hot prices, rate hikes

Vancouver sales activity is feeling the pinch

Elevated prices and an unforgiving environment of interest rate hikes are making themselves felt in the demand for homes in Vancouver, according to October numbers from the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV).

After reaching a historic peak of $1.094 million in May 2018, the composite benchmark price of a home in Greater Vancouver stood at $1.062 million in October, Better Dwelling reported in its analysis of the numbers.

Although this was a mere 1% higher than the $1.042 million during the same time last year, sales transactions noticeably went down by 34.9% during the same time frame. The Board also reported that the October 2018 home sales numbers (1,966 deals) were 26.8% below the 10-year average for that month.

Read more: CMHC issues forecast for next two years

A larger volume of listings reflected the weaker demand, increasing by 7.4% year-over-year to reach 4,873 new for-sale listings injected into the market last month. The overall number of active residential listings in Greater Vancouver was at 12,984, reaching a 4-year high and exceeding October 2017’s total by 42.1%.

 

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