Skewed!
Posted July 16th, 2010 in Kitsilano, Neighbourhood SnapShot | 
Detached
This session’s snapshot of the local Kitsilano Detached market is a prime example of how an average price can get skewed.
In the period covering May 16, 2010 to July, 16 2010 , detached properties in the Kitsilano neighbourhood experienced an interesting event.
Listings
Total Listings declined from May/June’s 63 to June/July’s 59.
Sales
Sales volume decreased by 50% from May/June’s 14 to June/July’s 7.
Expired, Reductions, Increases, Days on Market
- May/June had 2 listing mandates expire. Expired listings increased to 5 in June/July.
- Price reductions in May/June were 14 and went up by 1 to 15 in June/July.
- There were 1 price increase in both periods.
- It took an average of 22 days to sell a home in May/June. Days On Market decreased to 17 in June/July.
Average and Median Prices
- May/June’s Average Ask price of $1,760,786 shot to the moon with June/July recording an average of $3,217,571.
- The Median Ask price in May/June was $1,423,000 increasing to $1,598,000 in June/July.
- The Average Sold price in the May/June was $1,6,94,357. In June/July this climbed to $3,065,142.
- The Median Sold prices reacted similarly with May/June recording a price of $1,364,000 rising to June/July’s $1,548,000.
What’s in a Number
A first blush look at the graph may make you catch your breath! It’s ok – let it out!
This is the nature of average numbers. They skew easily and in this example it’s worth noting the reality is that of the seven homes that sold in June/July, hree of them were in excess of three million. They sold at $3.095, $4.7, and $8.6 million. Snatched – the $8.6 was on the market a brief 5 days.
The seven sellers were lucky. They were the magical 50% of the sales from May/June’s high of 14. Two thirds of them lived in very unique homes on pricey Point Grey Road.
Left is the question – if these high end buyers were the 50% and are now gone, what buyers for Kitsilano homes are left?
The interesting question should be why high-end buyer are not affected one iota by the cooling real market here. Why buy now instead of waiting several months down the road in expectation of bigger bargain?
Are we entering a period where all high-end retains its values no matter what storms are brewing in the Vancouver real estate market? That’s not surprising given the bailout was targeted at the banks exec, who were reaping billions of money while the common folks piled on debt after debt. Just look at the activities in the Arts auctions market. All the high-end arts were snatched up at record prices. The rich always get richer under this current monetary policy. The rich is always the first to grab the newly printed money. They get richer and richer in the process and it is set to continue until the common folks wake up to how distorted this current monetary system is.
Larry, with 7 transactions don’t you think the sample is so small you really cannot conclude anything?
The data imagine does not control for age, size and street/block location.
@Ben
Of course – neighbourhood numbers are always thorny as a data sample. Any conclusions are relavent only to that segment at that time (which is historical) and are subject to variance – ergo the disclaimers. By no means does a neighbourhood snap shot represent the market as a whole nor do I believe that anyone believe that it does. The snap shots are presented as local perspective. They are merely a reflection of a defined local market activity.