Metro Vancouver home sales up this summer
Sales were up in all types of housing in August, according to the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver
Tiffany Crawford
The Province
Home sales in Metro Vancouver were slightly up this summer compared with last year, according to the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver.
There were 2,231 residential properties sold in August, a 15.7-per-cent increase over the same month last year, the board said in a report posted Wednesday.
Sales were up across all types of homes including detached, townhouses, and apartments. The jump followed a fairly strong July as well, when 2,557 homes were sold in the region.
Last month’s sales were 9.2 per cent below the 10-year August sales average, putting sales at more normal summer levels for Metro Vancouver, said board president Ashley Smith.
There were 3,747 detached, attached and condos listed for sale on the Multiple Listing Service in Metro Vancouver last month, which the board said represents a 3.5-per-cent decrease year over year, and an 18.8-per-cent decrease compared to July when 4,613 homes were listed.
Smith says with more demand from home buyers, the supply isn’t accumulating like earlier in the year.
“These changes are creating more balanced market conditions,” Smith said in a news release.
The composite benchmark price for all residential properties continued to slide, however. For all properties the average price in August was $993,300, an 8.3-per-cent decrease over the same month last year and a 0.2-per-cent decrease compared to July.
The benchmark price for detached homes was down by 9.8 per cent to $1,406,700.
Condo benchmark prices decreased 8.9 per cent in August to $771,000, while the benchmark price of attached homes across the region went down 7.8 per cent to $654,000.
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