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

Sutton Group-West Coast Realty - Cissy Yee

3 min read

A Record-Breaking Month for Real Estate Sales!

September 2020 ended with an extraordinary sales of 3,643 Units, which is the highest sale ever recorded for Real estate in Greater Vancouver area!

The summer months were also solid in sales, but September came with a record sale, thanks to desirable mortgage rates. We also see the positive effect of the COVID-19 period, where people started to spend more time at their homes and possibly wanting to invest in more space and better properties to live in.

The listings-to-sales ratio is over 20% level, a benchmark to record as a SELLER’s market for all categories.

You may find some of the August market performance notes below:

UNIT SALES: 3,643 units sold. This represents a 56.2% increase over the last year, and the highest sales ever recorded. This figure is also 19.6% higher than August 2020.
LISTINGS: there were 6,402 new listings on MLS, representing a 31% increase over the last year. However, the total number of listings showed a 2.6% decrease over the last year, which is a result of high sales volumes`
SALES-TO-LISTINGS RATIO: This ratio is one of the most significant indicators for where the market is going. You may see the percentages in the graph below for September 2020. The sales to active listing ratio are over 20% for the last four months. It is a SELLER’s MARKET for all categories. The trend is the strongest for townhomes where the ratio reached 36.1%
PRICES: Higher sales came with a 5.8% yearly increase and reached $1,041,300 (overall home price index)
DETACHED HOMES: Unit sales were 1,317, which shows a whopping 76.8% increase in sales compared to last year. The benchmark price is $1,507,500, which is a 7.8% yearly increase over the last year.
TOWNHOMES: 73% more sales when compared to last year(730 unit sales). the benchmark price increased by 5.2% over the previous year
CONDOS: Unit sales increased by 36.9% over last year, with a total of 1,596 unit sales. The benchmark price increased by 4.5% over the previous year.

Market Trend (Where will the prices 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 also helping to boost demand. It is currently possible to find rates of 1.7% to 1.9% for 5-year fixed-term mortgages (Please contact us for the ongoing 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.

Yearly price increases are at a 5% level in almost all categories, despite the huge unit sales increase. This shows that the buyers are looking for reasonable prices rather than buy at any cost.

Overall, we can expect a hot market to continue unless we get negative news from the COVID-19 side.