Well its officially here, the new normal in Downtown Vancouver, which is now a “balanced market” as 17 condos out of 100 are selling. However, just to be clear, most of the units selling are in the under $900,000 bracket so that means that it’s a balanced market for studios, 1 bedroom condos and smaller 2 bedrooms. The luxury market remains a buyers’ market and that won’t change anytime soon.
As the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver reports, there was a modest increase in home sales in Metro Vancouver during the month of May. While home sales were up 44% from April, they were down just under 7% from May 2018, and the 2,638 sales were the lowest for the month of May since 2000.
Focusing on the Downtown Vancouver condo market in May 2019;
The under $900,000 market (local money market) continues to sell if the price is right, which is 10% to 20% lower than last year.
There were 109 sales under $900,000 and 396 active listing which means 28% of the units are selling.
However, the $900,000 to $1,500,000 range is selling at a rate of 14% or 34 out of 239 homes are selling.
The $1,500,000 to $2,500,000 range is selling at a rate of 9% or 15 out of 173 homes are selling.
The $2,500,000 to $5,000,000 range is selling at a rate of 3% or 3 out of 87 homes are selling.
And the over $5,000,000 range is selling at a rate of 2% or 1 out of 49 homes are selling.
Total unit sales in Downtown Vancouver were up 28% from last month but down 14% from May 2018. Those who are priced correctly for this market are selling on average in 16 days.
The median price dropped only 1.4% from last month with fewer luxury sales in the downtown market but the median price is down 9% from May 2018.
The average price per square foot increased 1% from $994 in April to $1,004 in May.
And inventory has plateaued 944 active listings up 40% compared to May 2018. We are finding many owner renting out their condos as they are not achieving their desired sale prices.
The sellers’ best bets are studios and 1 bedrooms as always. And the buyers’ best bets are units over $5,000,000 and Coal Harbour 2 and 3 bedrooms properties remain the worst performers.
It’s way too early to make it official, however in my opinion, the studios and 1 bedrooms in Downtown Vancouver seem to have stabilized and the luxury market is a long way from finding the bottom.
I hope you find this helpful, but should you have any questions please don’t hesitate to ask.
Sincerely,
Ian