Is the Market Heating Up or Cooling Down?

Hi Vancouver Market Update readers,

We all noticed the significant increase in inventory last month. April brought a remarkable 42% rise in active listings compared to last year. Many expected the market to continue heating up, but what’s really happening now?

As we find ourselves three weeks into May, we’ve seen less than 1700 sales—only about 60% of what we had last month. This surprising trend suggests that the market is actually cooling down.

Naturally, you might be wondering: if sales are slowing down, will prices drop? In my honest opinion, prices might only drop if demand stays low for an extended period. Currently, apartments and townhouses are still within a seller’s market. On the other hand, single-family houses are more balanced, with about six months of inventory available.

The present market conditions are more favourable for buyers. This is because inventory levels are building up while demand remains relatively low, largely due to high mortgage rates.

Here’s something to ponder: With Canada’s inflation rate continuing to decrease in April, do you think the Bank of Canada will cut interest rates in June? I’m eager to hear your thoughts and predictions.

As always, if you have any questions or need personalized advice for your real estate journey, don’t hesitate to reach out.

Neighbourhood specific data

This section is broken down into three different property types stating out the median sold price.

Apartment Median Sold Price (M-M change)

• City of Vancouver: $794,750. (- 0.22%)
• Burnaby: $755,000. (+ 1.28%.)
• New Westminster: $626,000. (- 2.95%)
• Richmond: $690,000 (- 6.23%)?
• City of Surrey: $550,000 (- 0.63%)
• Coquitlam: $ 675,000 (- 4.93%)

Townhouse Median Sold Price?(M-M change)

• City of Vancouver: $1.55m (- 2.21%)
• Burnaby: $1.088m ?(+ 12.16%)
• New Westminster: $1.07m (- 8.41%)
• Richmond: $1.16m (- 2.86%) ?
• City of Surrey: $893k (+ 0.68%)
• Coquitlam: $1.19m (+ 3.4%)

Detached home Median Sold Price?(M-M change)

• City of Vancouver: $2.34m (- 5.26%)
• Burnaby: $2.21m (No change)
• New Westminster: $1.66m (+ 4.14%)
• Richmond: $2.06m (- 1.72%) ?
• City of Surrey: $1.565 (- 0.95%)
• Coquitlam: $1.82m (?-2%)

Key findings:

• Richmond buyers are actively searching for townhouses while the median price for apartments went down. But make no mistake, the Richmond condo market is still very active with the sales count going up 26.6% month to month. Entry-level condos in great areas are selling like hotcakes. In April, we had 607 listings on the market while last year April only had 478 apartments listed for sale.?

• The City of Vancouver experienced a slight drop in median price across all property types. Detached home sales went up 59.76% Y-O-Y. We last had that many detached home sales (207 properties sold) in May 2023. Despite the higher interest rate environment, single-family house buyers can’t wait to move.?
• Are you looking for a place to invest and do you have cash? Buy land. Buy as far west and as large as you can. You can’t go wrong because you can’t produce more land.

• Burnaby Metrotown apartment sales went down from 66 sold in March to 51 in April 2024 but the median sold price went up 10.96% in that area. This suggests that even though fewer transactions occurred, the sales were concentrated in higher-priced segments of the market (2-bedroom larger units), pushing prices up. Expect more competition when shopping for higher-priced properties.

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Barton Lui, Oakwyn Realty

?? 604-715-5568

?? [email protected]