Vancouver real estate market goes through a slowdown in sales

The foreign-buyer tax introduced last year by the British Columbia government to address the home prices has resulted to a slowdown in sale activities in the city in February. There were a total of 2,461 sales in February which is a 42% decline from the 4,254 sales recorded in February last year.
Furthermore, there was a total dollar volume drop in sales of an estimated 48% from the same period last year which was $47 billion to less than $2.5 billion.
These figures suggest the real estate market in Vancouver is making a slow recovery after the city government introduced a tax against foreign buyers’.
Residential prices also dropped by 10% from $1,104,133 in February last year to $995,583 this year which is a 10% decrease.
Robert Kavcic, BMO senior economist stated that although home prices are still growing at a slower rate, they are actually making a steady recovery from their August record which was the highest recorded in the city.
Luxury homes were the hardest it by the decline in sales while condo units have been making great gains after the introduction of the tax.
However, the slowdown in sales might be just what the city needs to create a balance in the market as the city is currently short of new supply in the market.
Taking a look at things across the province, there was a 32% drop in sales as there was a recorded 6,580 sales units with a total of $4.5 billion dollar sales, a 40% decrease. The average home price dropped by 12% to $688,117 from $779,419 last February.
Over the first two months of the year, the demand for homes in the province seems to be going back to normal with home sales dropping from the high rate they were last year.