REBGV Market Update For May 2024 – Home Sales Down At Least 20% And Inventory Continues To Climb
While home sales were lower than what is typical at this time of the year, inventory continues to accumulate. This was made apparent in the May 2024 report released by the Greater Vancouver Realtors (GVR), formerly known as the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV).
According to Andrew Lis, GVR director of economics and data analytics, “The surprise in the May data is that sales have come in softer than what we’d typically expect to see at this point in the year, while the number of newly listed homes for sale is carrying some of the momentum seen in the April data.
“It’s a natural inclination to chalk these trends up to one factor or another, but what we are seeing is a culmination of factors influencing buyer and seller decisions in the market right now. It’s everything from higher borrowing costs, to worries about the economy, to policy interventions imposed by various levels of government.”
Home Sales Realtors registered 2,733 residential property sales in May 2024 for the region. This represented a 19.9% decline from the same period last year in which 3,411 sales were recorded, and a decrease of 19.6 % from the 10-year seasonal average for May.
- The number of detached properties sold was 846, 18.9% less than May 2023 when 1,043 sales were recorded.
- The number of apartments sold was 1338, 22.7% less than May 2023 when 1,730 sales were recorded.
- The number of attached properties sold was 523, 14% less than May 2023 when 608 sales were recorded.
Home Listings May saw 6,374 new listings of detached, attached and apartment properties added to the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) in Metro Vancouver. This was a 12.6% increase compared to the 5,661 homes listed in May 2023, and a 7% increase compared to the 10-year seasonal average of 5,958.
Sales-To-Active-Listings Ratio This ratio gives a better understanding of the relationship between supply and demand in the market. Downward pressure on home prices can occur when the ratio dips below 12% for a sustained period, and home prices can experience upward pressure when the ratio is above 20% for sustained periods.
For all property types, the ratio in May 2024 was 20.8%.
When broken down by property types, the ratio was:
- 16.8% for detached homes
- 25.1 % for townhomes
- 22.5% for condominiums
Home Prices For the month of May 2024, The MLS Home Price index composite benchmark price for all residential properties in Metro Vancouver was $1,212,000. This was a 2.3% increase over May 2023 and a 0.5% increase when compared to April 2024.
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