Over the last 12 months, the MLSLink®
Housing Price Index (HPI) benchmark price for all residential
properties in Greater Vancouver increased 6.8 per cent to
$553,702 from $518,668 in October 2008.
“While home prices have been rising
in 2009, they have not eclipsed the peaks reached in early
2008,” Scott Russell, Real Estate Board of Greater
Vancouver (REBGV) president said. “We’re coming
off several months of unseasonably high sales levels, which
has allowed for a gradual increase in home values this year,”
The REBGV reports that residential property
sales in Greater Vancouver totalled 3,704 in October 2009,
an increase of 4.1 per cent from the 3,559 sales recorded
in September 2009, and an increase of 171.6 per cent compared
to October 2008 when 1,364 sales were recorded. Looking
back two years, last month’s sales increased 22.3
per cent compared to October 2007 when 3,028 sales were
recorded.
“High confidence and low mortgage
rates are continuing to drive the activity we’re seeing
in the housing market today,” Russell said.
New listings for detached, attached and
apartment properties in Greater Vancouver totalled 4,977
in October 2009. This represents a 2.3 per cent increase
compared to October 2008 when 4,867 new units were listed,
and a 13.4 per cent decline compared to September 2009 when
5,764 properties were listed on the Multiple Listing Service®
(MLS®) in Greater Vancouver.
At 12,084, the total number of property
listings on the MLS® decreased 4.1 per cent in October
compared to last month and declined 37 per cent from this
time last year.
Sales of detached properties increased 201.6
per cent to 1,487 from the 493 detached sales recorded during
the same period in 2008. The benchmark price, as calculated
by the MLSLink Housing Price Index®, for detached properties
increased 7.7 per cent from October 2008 to $749,808.
Sales of apartment properties in October
2009 increased 148.4 per cent to 1,607, compared to 647sales
in October 2008. The benchmark price of an apartment property
increased 6.3 per cent from October 2008 to $380,975.
Attached property sales in October 2009
are up 172.3 per cent to 610, compared with the 224 sales
in October 2008. The benchmark price of an attached unit
increased 4.6 per cent between Octobers 2008 and 2009 to
$468,798.
