Housing Market Going South in 2009
The British Columbia Real Estate Association came out with stats for the BC housing market in 2008 last week showing that the downward momentum continues to build.
The average price of a house in Greater Vancouver in December now stands at $560,953 down from $566,192, a drop of 0.9% over the last 12 months.
Greater Vancouver sales in 2008 were down 35.5% to 25,149 units sold from 38,978 in 2007. The dollar value of transactions was down 33%.
The average price of a Vancouver home in 2008 as a whole was $593,767 up 4% from $570,795 the year before.
However, the stats for the year as a whole don't tell the full story as 2008 was the year that the bubble finally burst in real estate.
It was a tale of two parts, with BC house prices peaking and falling in March 2008. As Cameron Muir, BCREA Chief Economist succinctly put it: “The housing market came in like a lion and went out like a lamb in 2008."
It looks like it'll now limp its way through 2009 like a dog with its tail between its legs. Telling stats include a big rise in the number of listings for Greater Vancouver while buying activity remains subdued: listings rose 79% from 9,034 last year to 16,188 active listings in December. However, sales are running at only 5.7% of active listings compared with 21.7% in 2007.
Province wide real estate sales
Residential unit sales volume was down 31% in 2008 to $31.3 billion compared to last year and unit sales declined 33 per cent to 68,923, the lowest level since 2000, when 54,179 transactions were recorded.
The average MLS residential price in 2008 was $454,599, up 3.5 per cent from 2007.
The BCREA represents 12 member real estate boards and more than 18,000 realtors in British Columbia.
Currency swoon
U.S. buyers who bought a pad here a year ago will have seen the value of their second home fall much more, with the loonie dropping in value from around dollar parity to 80 U.S. cents. Looked at another way, Canadian real estate got a lot cheaper for anyone paying in US dollars.