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

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

22% Increase in Unit Sales in 2020!

The Real estate market realized 30,944 unit sales in 2020, which is a 22% increase compared to 2019.

Although the sales almost came to a halt in March and April due to the pandemic, the real estate industry showed a very strong come back with the help of lowered interest rates and low mortgage rates.

Summer and especially Autumn sales were at record high levels, creating a seller’s market for most of the second half of the year.

December 2020 Results – 53% Sales Increase Over Last Year

December results were not a surprise as well, after many months of record-breaking unit sales in the real estate market.

Still, a 53% increase needs to be considered extraordinary especially in the holiday season.

Due to pandemic travel restrictions, we did not experience the seasonal drop in the real estate industry. Instead, continued lower mortgage rates, supported by the positive vaccine news resulted in these very strong sales results.

Market Figures

The sales to listings ratio in December reached a very high figure(36.2%). This is a very strong seller’s market indication. the listings are going down compared to the sales and this may reflect as price increases in the market.

*** 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: 3,093 units sold. This represents a 53,4% increase over the last year, and again 57.7% over the last 10 year’s December sales.
LISTINGS: the listings show a 23% decrease from last month. Lower listings created a very high sales-to-listings ratio.
DETACHED HOMES: Unit sales were 1,026, a 71.3% increase in sales compared to last year. The benchmark price is $1,554,600, which is a 10.2% yearly increase over the last year.
TOWNHOMES: 62.9% more sales when compared to last year(593 unit sales). the benchmark price increased by 4.9% over the previous year
CONDOS: Unit sales increased by 40% over last year, with a total of 1,474 unit sales. The benchmark price increased by 2.6% over the previous year.
SALES-TO-LISTINGS RATIO: With strong sales and decreasing listing number, The sales to listing ratio reached 36.2%, with the highest ratio in Townhomes(50.4%)

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 Expectations

December and January have always been the slowest months for the real estate market. However, December sales were even higher than November this year since this is not a usual holiday period.

People are not travelling, and with the record low mortgage rates, vaccine implementation news and higher expectations from 2021, the positive results in the market are expected to continue.

There were not so radical price movements but the lowering listings in the market is a strong sign of possible price increases.

The vaccination will start to show its effects most probably by summer. Also, the warm weather will help to lower the effects of the virus. So it would not be wrong to say that the market will start coming back within 5-6 months, although not as efficient as before.

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.