West Haven Group’s June Vancouver Market Update
In an interesting turn of events, May saw an uptick in buyer activity. Sales in May were up 44% over April. And, after several months of sales being down by about 40% compared to 10-year-average volumes, May was only down by 22%.
This is likely due to prices having come down by just enough to present some great opportunities for an increasing number of buyers. It is likely also due to buyers having some renewed confidence in the market given that after over a year of dampened activity, prices have not crashed, just pulled back somewhat. Many buyers also believe that we might be at the bottom of the price decline and that this is likely the best time to pick up a good buy.
For May, condos in Greater Vancouver registered a 21% sales-to-actives ratio. This is technically considered a seller’s market. We’ll see if this is a one-off month, or the beginning of an ascent back to a typical busy Vancouver market.
Either way, we are of the opinion that the actual demand to buy in Vancouver since the slow-down began did not decrease. And, the population did not decrease. Employment did not decrease. Hence, we think that there is pent-up demand that will reveal itself once many of these buyers are comfortable enough to re-enter the market.
Please reach out to us should you have any questions about this, or want to set up a meeting to get more details.