Vancouver housing market posts strong sales, new listings growth

Prospective home buyers currently have access to one of the region's largest selections since 2021

Vancouver housing market posts strong sales, new listings growth

The Vancouver region saw sales accelerate in November amid a steady increase in listings, according to the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV).

A total of 1,702 sales took place in the market last month, representing a 4.7% annual increase despite being around 33% lower than the 10-year seasonal average for November.

The market benefited from a continued increase in newly listed properties, having grown by 9.8% year over year for a total of 3,369 new listings. New listings were just 2.8% below the region’s 10-year seasonal average.

The REBGV said that this trend has given prospective home buyers one of the largest selections to choose from since 2021.

“We’ve been watching the number of active listings in our market increase over the past few months, which is giving buyers more to choose from than they’ve been used to seeing over the past few years,” said Andrew Lis, director of economics and data analytics at REBGV.

“When paired with the seasonal slowdown in sales we typically see this time of year, this increase in supply is creating balanced conditions across Metro Vancouver’s housing market."

Vancouver’s composite benchmark home price went up by 4.9% annually to reach approximately $1.185 million in November, more than compensating for a 1% decrease from October 2023.

“Balanced market conditions typically come with flatter price trends, and that’s what we’ve seen in the market since the summer months,” Lis added.

“Prices have edged lower by a few per cent since the summer. And with most economists expecting mortgage rates to fall modestly in 2024, market conditions for buyers are arguably the most favourable we’ve seen in some time in our market.”