Buyers Are Making A Comeback: Home Sales Up 76% Since January

Good news for the Vancouver housing market as it showed signs of increased activity in February, with transactions picking up considerably compared to January 2023. Despite monthly sales totals still 33% below the 10 year average, our region totalled 1,808 home sales in February - a 76.9% increase compared to the 1,022 sold in January, but still 47.2% below February 2022.

"While we continue to expect home price trends to show year-over-year declines for a few more months, current data and market activity suggest pricing is firming up. In fact, some leading indicators suggest we may see modest price increases this spring, particularly if sales activity increases and mortgage rates hold steady." 

Andrew Lis | REBGV Director, Economics and Data Analytics
 

Though buyer activity made a notable positive shift month over month, prospective sellers showed more hesitancy. There were 3,467 detached, attached and apartment new properties listed for sale in February 2023 - a 36.6% decrease compared to the 5,471 homes listed in February 2022 and a 5.2% increase compared to January 2023. Though listing activity increased month over month, the number of total listings in Vancouver inched up to 7,868. This is 5.2% more homes available than in January 2023, and 16.7% more homes available than the same time last year.

February Benchmark Prices Show Signs Of Rebound

With 1,808 sales in February and 7,868 active listings, the sales-to-active-listings ratio is now 22.9%, after the ratio was at just 13.7% in January. When the ratio is below 12%, prices are expected to decrease, and when above 20%, prices are expected to increase - in between is considered a “balanced market”. Single-detached homes had a ratio of 16.8%, while condos had a ratio of 25.8% and townhouses had a ratio of 30.1%, indicating more condos and townhomes are selling relative to the number of listings, compared to the detached home market.

Though the “sales-to-active listings” ratio was drastically different across property types, all experienced marginal month over month increases for average sale prices. The benchmark price is now $1,813,100 for single-detached homes, $1,038,500 for townhouses, and $732,200 for condos. All three represent decreases compared to the same time last year, but are slight increases — 0.7%, 1.8%, and 1.6% — from January 2023.