Sales In Vancouver Stabilizing

There was a change in sales of homes in Vancouver last month, which caused the levels of activity to be at a “more historically normal” stage. The number of sales that was reported by the Greater Vancouver Real Estate Board was 2,489 in the month after it declined by 26 percent from the previous year and then decreased by 22.8 percent from July 2016.

The president of REBGV, Dan Morrison said: “The record-breaking sales we saw earlier this year were replaced by more historically normal activity throughout July and August. Sales have been trending downward in Metro Vancouver for a few months. The new foreign buyer tax appears to have added to this trend by reducing foreign buyer activity and causing some uncertainty amongst local home buyers and sellers.”

Although some are bent on blaming the recent 15 percent tax on foreign buyers of the city’s homes, Dan does not believe that is the problem here. He made an opinion saying: “It’ll take some months before we can really understand the impact of the new tax. We’ll be interested to see the government’s next round of foreign buyer data.”

Prices continuously go up with the average price being at $933,100, increased by 31.4 percent over the years, even though sales may be low. The benchmark sales figures are trending lower as the sales of expensive detached homes become regulated.