The city’s dynamic high-end real estate sector is not showing signs of cooling down any time soon, according to the latest industry figures
Widely acknowledged as Canada’s most in-demand real estate market, Vancouver definitely isn’t showing signs of cooling down any time soon, with the latest industry figures revealing that month-over-month sales volume in the city’s luxury housing sector went up by 27.4 per cent, and 56 per cent greater than the 10-year average for March.
This represents 5,173 high-end properties sold in the Greater Vancouver area last month, many of which have been bought right away and for millions of dollars higher than their market prices. In particular, a mansion situated on the Point Grey neighbourhood’s Belmont Avenue got purchased for $5.51 million greater than its assessed value a mere 20 days after it was listed.
Meanwhile, benchmark prices for detached homes in the city have reached a record high of $1.34 million last month, and as much as $3.07 million in the west side.
These numbers have not gone unnoticed by the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver.
“Listings are selling so fast that there isn’t time for the inventory to build up. For high-end homes to be selling in weeks instead of months is a bit unusual. In a normal market, 30 to 90 days would be normal for typical homes. Now, many are selling within two weeks,” board president Dan Morrison told The Globe and Mail on Monday (April 4).
Morrison noted that a confluence of factors—including an ever-growing population, a recovering economy, low supply, and low mortgage rates—was chiefly responsible for Vancouver’s stimulated market.
Simon Fraser University professor Josh Gordon agreed with the assessment, adding that the influx of Chinese buyers is helping along the upward trend in prices in the city’s west side.
“Essentially, the main culprit is foreign demand, and secondarily, you have low interest rates, which are helping to fuel the bubble. People get pushed out to Vancouver’s east side and then to Burnaby and Coquitlam,” according to Gordon, who works with the University’s School of Public Policy.
This represents 5,173 high-end properties sold in the Greater Vancouver area last month, many of which have been bought right away and for millions of dollars higher than their market prices. In particular, a mansion situated on the Point Grey neighbourhood’s Belmont Avenue got purchased for $5.51 million greater than its assessed value a mere 20 days after it was listed.
Meanwhile, benchmark prices for detached homes in the city have reached a record high of $1.34 million last month, and as much as $3.07 million in the west side.
These numbers have not gone unnoticed by the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver.
“Listings are selling so fast that there isn’t time for the inventory to build up. For high-end homes to be selling in weeks instead of months is a bit unusual. In a normal market, 30 to 90 days would be normal for typical homes. Now, many are selling within two weeks,” board president Dan Morrison told The Globe and Mail on Monday (April 4).
Morrison noted that a confluence of factors—including an ever-growing population, a recovering economy, low supply, and low mortgage rates—was chiefly responsible for Vancouver’s stimulated market.
Simon Fraser University professor Josh Gordon agreed with the assessment, adding that the influx of Chinese buyers is helping along the upward trend in prices in the city’s west side.
“Essentially, the main culprit is foreign demand, and secondarily, you have low interest rates, which are helping to fuel the bubble. People get pushed out to Vancouver’s east side and then to Burnaby and Coquitlam,” according to Gordon, who works with the University’s School of Public Policy.
