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"I don’t know where I’m going from here, but I promise it won’t be boring."
– David Bowie

2022 was a tale of two extremes.  We started last year with a flurry of record-setting sales activity and transitioned into what has been one of the calmest markets on the of the last several years. Predictions abound as far as what 2023 has in store. What is certain is that there is always opportunity to be found .

As for where things are at right now, sales declined 19.8% from November through December last year. With this, the number of new listings added to the market declined 60.5% and buyers are now looking at 19.6% fewer homes available for purchase than there were in November.  There are also a notable 41% fewer listings on the market that buyers had to chose from in December 2021.

As far as how this has impacted prices, the low amount of inventory has actually prevented benchmark prices from any rapid declines. There was a 1.5% downward shift to the overall benchmark home price between November and December for Metro Vancouver and the market currently sits 3.3 below where it was this time last year. 

The demand for the available supply is illustrated statistically by the sales-to-active-listings ratio which is now at 17.5% (12.3% for houses, 19.5% for attached and 21.7% for condos).  Generally, analysts say downward pressure on prices tends to occurs when demand falls below 12% for a prolonged period, while prices tend to increase above when sustained above 20% for a duration of several months. 

 Another upcoming Bank of Canada rate hike is widely expected.  Don't hesitate to reach out if you have any questions or if you are curious about sales in your area.

See the full real estate market report and press release from REBGV here.Curious about how things are in looking in your specific community? Check out the neighbourhood reports above.