(Vancouver) Rising borrowing costs, combined with seasonal trends, put Vancouver’s real estate market on track for slowing sales and stabilizing prices, the region’s real estate board said Tuesday.
The body’s outlook is informed by residential property sales in August, which came in at 2,296, down 13.8% from the ten-year seasonal average for that month.
Compared to the same month last year, August sales jumped more than 21%.
A total of 3,943 new listings for sale were recorded last month, an increase of about 18% year-on-year, but these new listings remained 5.3% below their ten-year seasonal average.
The composite benchmark price for Metro Vancouver reached $1,208,400, an increase of 2.5% from August 2022 and a decrease of less than 1% from July 2023.
According to the real estate board’s director of data and analytics, the numbers are proof that Metro Vancouver’s real estate market has defied many experts’ predictions of a major slowdown, but that the market is tempering.
“It’s a bit of a hare and turtle story this year, with sales starting the year slow while prices have risen due to low levels of (homes listed for sale),” observed Tuesday Andrew Lis, in a statement.
“Heading into the fall, sales have caught up with rising prices, but both indicators are now slowing to a pace more in line with historical seasonal patterns and what one would expect given the current level of borrowing costs. ยป
