VANCOUVER,
B.C. – March 02, 2011 – Demand for detached
homes continues to be strong across Greater Vancouver,
with particularly high sales volumes occurring in
Richmond and Vancouver Westside.
For
the past two months, the number of properties listed
for sale and those sold on the Multiple Listing
Service® (MLS®) in Greater Vancouver outpaced
the 10-year average in both categories. From a historical
perspective, February’s 3,097 homes sales
outpace the 2,742 home-sale average recorded in
the region over the last ten years.
“We
saw an increase in demand across our region last
month as more buyers entered the market in advance
of the spring season,” said Jake Moldowan,
president of the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver
(REBGV). “The intensity of this activity varied
between communities. Our statistics tell us that
single detached homes in Richmond and the west side
of Vancouver remain the most sought after properties
in our marketplace.”
Between
November 2010 and February 2011, the MLSLink®
Housing Price Index (HPI) benchmark price of a detached
home in Richmond increased $190,739 to $1,099,679;
in Vancouver West, detached home prices increased
$222,185 to $1,850,072. In comparison, detached
home prices across the region increased $51,762
between November 2010 and February 2011 to $848,645.
“To
effectively analyse real estate statistics for the
purpose of buying or selling a home, it’s
critical to focus on your neighbourhood of choice
because, like we see today, conditions and prices
can fluctuate significantly within the same city
or municipality,” Moldowan said.
Looking
across the region, the REBGV reports that residential
property sales of detached, attached and apartment
properties in Greater Vancouver reached 3,097 on
the MLS® in February 2011. This represents a
70.3 per cent increase compared to the 1,819 sales
recorded in January 2011, an increase of 25.2 per
cent compared to the 2,473 sales in February 2010
and a 109.3 per cent increase from the 1,480 home
sales in February 2009.
New
listings for detached, attached and apartment properties
in Greater Vancouver totalled 5,693 in February
2011. This represents a 23.6 per cent increase compared
to February 2010 when 4,606 properties were listed,
and an 18.6 per cent increase compared to January
2011 when 4,801 homes were added to the MLS®
in Greater Vancouver.
“With
a sizeable increase in the number of properties
coming onto the market for sale, there’s a
good selection out there for buyers to choose from,”
Moldowan said.
At,
11,925, the total number of residential property
listings on the MLS® increased 14.2 per cent
in February compared to last month and increased
5 per cent from this time last year.
Sales
of detached properties on the MLS® in February
2011 reached 1,402, an increase of 42.6 per cent
from the 983 detached sales recorded in February
2010, and a 138.9 per cent increase from the 587
units sold in February 2009. The benchmark price
for detached properties increased 6 per cent from
February 2010 to $848,645.
Sales
of apartment properties reached 1,206 in February
2011, a 12.3 per cent increase compared to the 1,074
sales in February 2010, and an increase of 85.5
per cent compared to the 650 sales in February 2009.
The benchmark price of an apartment property increased
2.2 per cent from February 2010 to $399,397.
Attached
property sales in February 2011 totalled 489, a
17.5 per cent increase compared to the 416 sales
in February 2010, and a 101.2 per cent increase
from the 243 attached properties sold in February
2009. The benchmark price of an attached unit increased
2.3 per cent between February 2010 and 2011 to $507,118.
