New listings also saw a huge year-over-year decline
The Vancouver market saw its home sales drop by 42.5% annually in March, reaching 2,535 transactions – a level that was 28.4% below the region’s 10-year seasonal average, according to new data from the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV).
The same month saw 4,317 homes newly listed for sale across Metro Vancouver, representing a 35.5% year-over-year decrease. This was also 22.35% below the 10-year seasonal average.
Metro Vancouver’s total active inventory stood at 8,617 units, an 8.1% increase compared to March 2022 although remaining 17.3% below the 10-year seasonal average, the REBGV said.
The composite benchmark price across all residential asset classes in Metro Vancouver reached nearly $1.144 million in March, down by 9.5% annually but up by 1.8% monthly.
“On the pricing side, the spring market is already on track to outpace our 2023 forecast, which anticipated modest price increases of about 1% to 2% across all product types,” said Andrew Lis, director of economics and data analytics at the REBGV.
“The surprising part of this recent activity is that these price increases are occurring against a backdrop of elevated borrowing costs, below-average sales, and new listing activity that continues to suggest that sellers are awaiting more favorable market conditions.”
Lis said that taking historical data into account, monthly sales will continue to hover below long-term averages as the market continues to move towards the summer.
“But it’s important to recognize the chicken-and-egg nature of these statistics,” he added. “The number of sales in any given month is partially determined by the number of homes that come to market that month, along with the inventory of unsold homes listed in previous months. With fewer homes coming on the market, homes sales will remain lower than we’re accustomed to seeing at this point in the year, almost entirely by definition.”
