Home sellers were more active in September while home buyer demand remained below the regions long term averages.
Let’s take a closer look.
Metro Vancouver Realtor®’s registered 1,687 home sales on the MLS® in September. This is a -46% decrease from this time last year and -36% below our 10 year sales average.
Sellers new listed 4,229 homes for sale on the MLS®. That’s an -18% decrease compared to last year and is a +27% increase from last month.
With fewer homes selling and listings to continue to come to market, inventory is beginning to accumulate, bring the number of homes listed for sale today in our region to 9,971.
More supply and less demand will put downward pressure on home prices. We measure this ratio of supply and demand by using the sales-to-active-listings ratio. This ratio measures the number of homes available for sale against the number of homes sold throughout the month.
In typical market conditions when this ratio dips below 12% for a sustained period it indicates supply is outpacing demand and prices will likely decline. When it surpasses 20%, demand is outpacing supply and prices will likely increase.
September ended with this ratio at 17%. While this typically suggests a balanced market, this ratio has been trending down since the beginning of the summer.
By property types, apartments are at 21%, townhomes at 18% and single family homes are at 12%.
This brings the MLS® HPI benchmark price for all house types in Metro Vancouver to $1,155,300 (September). This is a -2% decrease compared to last month and +4% above this time last year.
So what’s causing this decline in demand?
The Bank of Canada and other central banks around the globe are increasing interest rates to stamp out inflation. This in turn increased the costs to funds and makes it more challenging for homebuyers to secure a mortgage.
In market conditions like these it’s important to talk to your REALTOR® to get a better understanding of the current market and develop a plan to help you be successful in buying or selling a home.
