Greater Vancouver Real Estate BlogRecently posted or modified blog posts by tag - home saleshttps://www.vancouverhousefinders.com/blog/Copyright VancouverHouseFinders.com2022-07-18T10:20:49-07:00tag:vancouverhousefinders.com,2012-09-20:11103March home sales and new listings set records in Metro Vancouver!March home sales and new listings set records in Metro Vancouver
Compared to previous years and months, March 2021 was the busiest month ever in Metro Vancouver’s real estate market. There were more new home listings and sales than the region had seen in the previous month or any other month before, with residential home sales totaling 5,708.
To put the figures into more perspective, sales just a month before, in February 2021, were about 53% less at 3,727, while those a year earlier, in March 2020, were approximately 126% less at 2,524. As a result, residential home sales in March 2021 were 72% more than the average in March for the last ten years.
According to the chair of the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver, Taylor Biggar, the surge in sales in March 2021 was unlike anything they had seen before. Due to the demand, the market experienced an upward price pressure resulting in double-digit price increases for single-family homes and townhomes.
The region’s rural and suburban areas of Squamish, Delta-South and Whistler say the highest growth in demand with an increase of approximately 188%, 195%, and 194%, respectively.
Metro Vancouver’s Multiple Listing Service® (MLS®) reported a record number of new listings in March 2021, with 8,287 units of attached, detached, and apartment homes. Compared to March 2020 and February 2021, the record number of listings increased by 86.8% and 64.2%, respectively.
What the Numbers Mean
Current figures put the number of listings on the service at 9,145 against 9,606 in March 2020. While that is 4.8% lower than the previous year, it’s 9.4% higher than the previous month of February, where there were 8,358 listings.
Still, as the chair of the REBGV noted, the new record listings haven’t caused a supply glut as the demand in the market has seen the inventory of homes for sale decrease significantly compared to 2020.
The ratio of sales-to-active listings across the board for March 2021 was 62.4%. However, by property type, the ratio for apartments, detached, and townhomes were 65.4%, 52.9%, and 79.9%, respectively.
Generally, analysts say downward pressure on home prices occurs when the sales-to-active listings ratio stays at 12% or lower for several months, while upward price pressure is experienced when the market sustains a ratio above 20% for an extended period.
Experts say that the current market activity results from market recovery, low-interest rates, increased household income and savings, and high demand for space.
Further analysis of the Home Price Index composite benchmark by the MLS reveals that the average price of residential property in Metro Vancouver is $1,123,300, a 9.4% and 3.6% increase over March 2020 and February 2021.
For a detached home, the composite benchmark price was $1,700,200, a 17.9% and 4.9% increase over March 2020 and February 2021, respectively. Similarly, the price for attached home sales in March 2021 stood at $872,200, representing a 10.4% and 3.9% growth compared to March 2020 and February 2021, respectively.
Compared to March 2020, the sales of detached, apartment, and attached homes in March 2021 increased by 130.6%, 128.8%, and 112.2%, respectively, setting a new record in Metro Vancouver.2021-04-14T14:10:00-07:002022-07-18T10:20:49-07:00Hani Farajtag:vancouverhousefinders.com,2012-09-20:4483How Long Does It take to sell a HouseQ. How long does it take to sell a house ?
A. The real estate market is an everchanging and volatile field, with no guarantees. The key elements that govern this field are never constant. It’s the dynamic nature of this field that makes it so unpredictable.
In real estate, there is a transaction between a buyer and seller. For a buyer, there’s an array of choices and the wait is for the click, for a buyer to settle on the perfect home. Delays or backlogs are either related to finances or not finding something suitable, but both can be resolved by looking at a different array of properties. The options never stop flowing for a buyer. But in the case of a seller, the situation is quite different.
The process of selling a house or property is quite a complex concept. It is the culmination of many elements including location, valuation, market stance, buyers and the perfect timing. The process cannot be rushed or induced into fast forward just by the will of a broker or by the wish of the seller.
It’s the coming together of these elements that form the selling process. The duration between putting your house onto the market and it gets sold off to a buyer is all dependent on how the selling process unfolds and how the elements in this process interact with one another.
To understand how long does it take sell a house, let’s first understand the process of selling.
In the simplest terms, selling involves a buyer, seller and in many cases related to real estate, a mediator better known as a broker/realtor. This entire process can be split into two, the preparation process and the dealing stage.
The preparation process mainly involves the seller and the realtor. It includes all steps before the inflow of concrete deals, it is everything involved in preparing for the final transaction. The second stage, or rather the dealing stage starts with an offer made by a buyer. Everything post-offer comes in this stage.
The more time-consuming part of the selling process is the preparation stage and here is where a seller can have a certain amount of influence on how long the process will last. Though there is some amount of control you have in speeding up processes in the dealing stage as well, it mainly involves legalities, down-payments, drawing contracts etc., the time duration of which is out of your control.
<img src="https://assets.site-static.com/userfiles/1084/image/Blog/Steps.jpg" width="5669" height="3653" />
To bring a change in the duration of any step you first need to understand what it entails.
Here are the important steps involved in the preparation process for selling:
1. Choosing an agent: The first step is to choose a listing agent. Do not rush this process, interview, and scan at least four to five agents before selecting one. Make sure to find out all essential details such as how long your house will be listed and the previous track record of the agency.
2. Home valuation: Doing the property valuation of your house is one of the most important steps of the process. It is the step before the actual transaction between a buyer and seller. It is a very essential element that largely affects the sale of your property.
Be sure to go through all the available methods of <a href="https://www.vancouverhousefinders.com/blog/how-to-determine-the-value-of-your-home/">calculating the value of your house</a>. These may include broker valuation methods or online valuation tools, evaluate all methods available to you and choose wisely.
3. Staging & Repairs: This step is considered optional by some sellers. People sometimes prefer not to stage their homes before a sale due them inhabiting it at the same time. While staging is an important step, it can be forgone if the condition of your house is not too bad. But repairs are a must.
Make all necessary adjustments on your doors, in your plumbing, wiring etc because these are the amenities people are on the lookout for.
4. Open House & Marketing: Show your property to the world, and it will be sold. Don’t hesitate in marketing your property. Essential if you have a realtor on board the marketing aspect is taken care of, but even so you can market within your social circles, word of mouth goes a long way in the selling process.
When it comes to <a href="https://www.vancouverhousefinders.com/blog/how-do-you-prepare-for-an-open-house/">hosting an open house</a>, once again if you have a realtor it is taken care of. An open house is basically a real estate event of sorts wherein you keep your doors open for any potential customer who wants to make a property purchase.
There are planned open houses but some sellers even allow people in for a showing without an appointment. This is purely your decision.
5. Offers, offers, offers: Once your property is out there, the waiting game begins. Depending on how well you and the realtor are able to execute the previous stages, and how their effect takes off in the market, offers will come flowing in. With the offer comes the offer value and from there on negotiations begin.
This is the last step of the preparation process. Keep in mind, even if you are closing in on a certain offer, do not stop the inflow of offers until the deal is properly sealed and finalized.
In almost all cases, a realtor is able to come up with a rough estimate of how long does it take to sell a house
They do this after analysing all the decisions and choices you make at every step from the very beginning. Sometimes even the realtor is the reason for the slow sale of your house, thus it is important to make wise choices while selecting the person who will deal with your property sale. Though it's not a calculated deduction, sometimes its pure luck that brings a buyer to a seller.
Essentially there is no hard and fast rule or formula through which you can determine how long it takes to sell a specific property. But as discussed above, there are factors that contribute to it.
Though there is a multitude of internal and external factors, here are some factors on which we have an influence and here’s how you can boost your selling process:
<img src="https://assets.site-static.com/userfiles/1084/image/Blog/Competitive_pricing.png" style="vertical-align: middle;" alt="Competitive Pricing" />
1. What is it you sell at?
The price at which you sell your property is the most important element in the selling mix. The process of fixing a price begins at the valuation of your property, post which you determine a price depending on how much percentage profit you want to make added to the condition of the house and the urgency to sell.
This is a very crucial decision that can decide the length of your selling process. The higher the price the longer the time. If a property is priced right, it will sell. Lower rates sell quicker, overpriced properties have an undetermined time limit.
It’s best to set your price just a tad bit lower than the other houses in the market or create other attractive offers to entice customers into making offers. Once you have offers flowing, competition between buyers raises the prices automatically.
2. Location is everything.
The geographical area of your property plays an important role in the sale. Make sure to mention any and all amenities available in your locality while marketing your house. Some important amenities include hospitals, schools, and playgrounds. Highlight to your buyer the connectivity of your area to highways, transport facilities, airports etc.
Always remember, its not only the house that sells, it’s the lifestyle. A person is interested in everything that a house has to offer, including its neighbourhood.
3. How it looks is how it is.
Though people sometimes refrain from staging their house for a sale, it’s like they say, the first impression is the last impression. Staging your house and decorating removes the troubles of a potential buyer to imagine how the house will like their home.
Visuals are a very powerful tool and staging helps to play that to its best potential. Create a story for your customer and make them wish they are the characters that play in it!
It's undeterminable to give an Average time to sell a house with market conditions and competitors' offers constantly fluctuating. But if you use the aspects that you are in control of and go forward with the selling process, it helps decrease the timeline.
Keep an eye out for opportunities to market your property and never lose hope, every house will find its owner!
Want to have a chat about the property or about your buying or selling needs?
<a href="https://app.acuityscheduling.com/schedule.php?owner=15579442" target="_blank">Book</a> an appointment today and let me know how I can help you.2019-01-02T11:37:00-07:002022-04-12T02:50:20-07:00Hani Farajtag:vancouverhousefinders.com,2012-09-20:4301Decreased Supply in Metro Vancouver Homes limits Buyers.<img src="https://assets.site-static.com/userfiles/1084/image/Capture6.JPG" width="779" height="529" />
The second month of 2017 has brought in a wave of disappointing news. According to the figures, the number of residential home sales in February 2017 equals to approximately 2425. This, in turn, is a 41.9% decrease from the record 4712 homes sold in February 2016 alone. But, it is an increase from January 2017 where only 1523 homes were sold totaling to 59.2%.
In fact, the sales of February were 7.7% below the 10-year February sales average. Dan Morrison, president of Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV) was quoted saying, “February home sales were well below the record-breaking activity from one year ago in line with our long-term historical average for the month.”
One of the reasons for this historical average can be contributed to the limited supply and snowy weather. In February 2017 alone, the new listings for attached, detached and apartment properties in Metro Vancouver equals to 3666. The listings showcase a 36.9% decrease in comparison to 5812 units listed in 2016 and a decrease of 11.4% has been witnessed in comparison to January 2017.
The total number of properties listed on the Multiple Listing Service in Metro Vancouver is close to 7594, which is a 4% increase compared to February 2016 and a 4.9%, compared to January 2017. In Metro Vancouver alone, the sales-to-active-listings ratio is 31.9%, which is a 10% increase from January in 2017.
Many are of the opinion that the downward pressure on home prices occurs when the ratio dips below the 12% mark for a sustained period while as the home prices experience an upward pressure when it surpasses 20% over a period of time.
In the condominium and townhouse market segment, home prices have witnessed a little downward pressure especially because sales are not at the same pace as experienced last year and sellers are struggling to keep up with the demand.
One of the most important benchmark prices for all residential properties in Metro Vancouver is the MLS Home Price Index, which currently stands at $906,700. This is a 2.8% decrease over the past six months but a 1.2% increase as compared to January 2017.
In February 2017, the total sale of detached properties was recorded at 745, which is a 58.1% decrease from the 1778 detached homes recorded in February 2016. The market has witnessed a 6.5% decrease over the past 6 months in the benchmark price for detached properties at $1,474,200.
On the other hand, the sales of apartment properties were recorded at 1275 in February 2017, which is a 28.8% decrease in comparison to the 1790 properties sold the earlier year.
This year, the benchmark price of an apartment property is currently $526,300, which represents a 2.3% increase over the past six months and a 2.7% increase as compared to January 2017.
The attached property sales totaled to 404 in February 2017, which is a 33.1% decrease in comparison to 2016. The benchmark price is set at $675,500, which represents 0.3% decrease over the past 6 months and a 1.3% increase in comparison to the same in January 2017.
In conclusion, the market has had a very low supply of home sellers in the past month, which has led to an overall decrease in benchmark prices and has greatly affected homebuyers in Metro Vancouver.2017-03-05T01:20:00-07:002018-10-29T17:04:38-07:00Hani Faraj