Seller's Market Around The Corner!

VANCOUVER -- Metro Vancouver's housing market remained in balanced market conditions in January, although there were signs of a sellers' market returning with higher levels of demand in larger communities.
“There was a healthy balance between the number of home buyers and sellers in our market in January, but there’s always variation in activity from region to region,” Jake Moldowan, president of the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV), said in a statement Wednesday. "We’re seeing strong sellers’ market conditions in areas like Richmond and the west side of Vancouver.”
According to the REBGV's latest monthly report, the number of properties listed for sale and those sold on the Multiple Listing Service last month outpaced the 10-year average in January.
Over the last 12 months, the benchmark price of detached homes increased 22.6 per cent in Richmond and 12.2 per cent in Vancouver West, according to a release. In comparison, detached home prices across the region increased 2.7 per cent over the same period.
Elsewhere in the region, the REBGV reports that residential property sales in Greater Vancouver reached 1,819 in January, a 4.2-per-cent decline compared to the 1,899 sales recorded in December 2010, and a decrease of 5.4 per cent compared to the 1,923 sales in January 2010. The numbers also represented a 139-per-cent increase from the 762 home sales in January 2009.
January’s 1,819 homes sales slightly surpassed the 1,790 home sale average recorded in the region over the last ten years.
New listings for detached, attached and apartment properties in Metro Vancouver totalled 4,801 in January, a 6.7-per-cent decrease compared to January 2010 when 5,147 properties were listed.
At 10,438, the total number of property listings increased 5.8 per cent in January compared to last month and increased 2.2 per cent from this time last year.
Sales of detached properties in January reached 793, an increase of 12.5 per cent from the 705 detached sales recorded in January 2010. The benchmark price for detached properties increased 2.7 per cent from January 2010 to $810,045.
Meanwhile, the Fraser Valley Real Estate Board on Wednesday reported an increase in listing activity and steady sales for the first month of 2011.
Board president Deanna Horn said: “In addition to an influx of new inventory in January, our realtors had more inquiries and increased traffic at open houses boding well for a solid spring market in the Fraser Valley.”
There were 834 sales in January, a decrease of 15 per cent compared to the 981 sales processed in January 2010 and a seven-per-cent decrease compared to the 895 sales in December.
Although the board received 11 per cent fewer new listings in January than it did during the same month last
year, it saw the typical post-holiday surge in new properties coming on stream.
Horn said there was a decrease in the average number of days to sell single family homes and townhouses in January.
“In terms of prices, overall they’re holding steady, however we are seeing variability depending on the
community and property type,” she added.
The benchmark price for Fraser Valley detached homes in January was $505,618, down 0.1 per cent compared to December and 0.9 per cent higher compared to $500,931 in January 2010.
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