Sutton Group-West Coast Realty - Cissy Yee
- 3 min read

Real Estate Market Update in B.C. - November 2020

Housing Sales Outpaced Seasonal and Long Term Averages in November!

The high sales performance in the real estate market that has started by the end of summer continued in November as well, reaching more than 3000 unit sales, a 22.7% increase over last November’s sales, and 24% over the 10-year November sales!

The sales momentum continued in November due to record-low Mortgage rates which made it possible for many families either to buy their first homes or buying bigger and better properties. The decreasing mortgage rates are expected to continue in December, and most probably until the effects of the COVID-19 starts to decrease in the economy. Only with the growing economy, it is estimated that the interest rates may rise.

Since the families started to spend more time at home, the demand for larger homes created a high demand for homes with more space and especially the townhomes where the prices are more affordable than detached homes.

Market Figures

The listings-to-sales ratio for November is 27.65 is over 20% level in all categories for many months now, which is a benchmark to record as a SELLER’s market for all categories.

*** Please find statistics in the cities of Metro Vancouver for all three categories down below the page!

Here some of the market performance figures:

UNIT SALES: 3,064 units sold. This represents a 22% increase over the last year, 24% over the last 10 year’s November sales.
LISTINGS: Although the listings showed a 3% increase over the last year(a total of 11,118 listings), it 10 10% lower than the listings in October. The number of homes listed decreased for the last 2 months and make it a strong seller’s market at the moment
REAL ESTATE MARKET PRICE INDEX: The market prices continued their positive momentum with a 5.8% increase over the last year.
DETACHED HOMES: Unit sales were 1,061, a 28.6% increase in sales compared to last year. The benchmark price is $1,538,900, which is a 9.4% yearly increase over the last year.
TOWNHOMES: 40% more sales when compared to last year(632 unit sales). the benchmark price increased by 5.6% over the previous year
CONDOS: Unit sales increased by 12.2% over last year, with a total of 1,371 unit sales. The benchmark price increased by 3.4% over the previous year.
SALES-TO-LISTINGS RATIO: With strong sales and decreasing listing number, The sales to listing ratio was 27.6%, with the highest ratio in Townhomes(40.1%) This ratio is one of the most significant indicators for where the real estate market is going. You may see the percentages in the graph below for November 2020. The sales to active listing ratio are over 20% for the last six months now. It is a SELLER’s MARKET for all categories.

Market Trend (Where will the prices and sales go?)

We are in a seller’s market where the unit sales reached a record high level. Although all the categories showed an increase, detached and townhomes’ sales trend was stronger. This shows that families are buying bigger houses.

This came as a trend after people spent even more time in their homes due to COVID-19 limitations. Now, more people are working from home, and many people needed separate rooms as a working space. This created a motive to shop for a bigger and more comfortable property.

The low mortgage rates are the main element to support the boost in demand. It is currently possible to find rates of 1.4% to 1.6% for 5-year fixed-term mortgages, and even lower rates as special offers from the main banks (Please contact us for the best market rates, as the market in strong fluctuation these days).

Although it is not possible to make accurate projections due to COVID-19, when we check the last months’ figures, we can see no sign of slowing down in the real estate market. The sales in the holiday season tend to slow down, however since the travels and holiday organizations are restricted due to COVID-19, we may see a market performance like no other year.

Overall, we can still expect the hot real estate market to continue, when compared to the performances of previous holiday season sales.

We are here to Help!

The market’s response to the current pandemic and the economic outlook will be critical to predicting the trend. Therefore, we advise you to get in touch with our experts and follow up with the market trends more closely with our realtors’ help.

Feel free to call us anytime to get the expert’s advice (604.202.2929)

JOVI offices are open and operational during this period. We follow a list of precautions being exercised in our offices for our agents’ and clients’ health and safety. Please CONTACT JOVI AGENTS for details.