Bargains Await Vancouver Home Buyers
Posted March 15th, 2015 in Real Estate, Sharing the Experience | 
Spring brings ‘bargains’ for home buyers
The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver reports that prices of homes have decreased throughout the Lower Mainland indicating that many great deals can be found on the housing market right now.
Very Affordable
“It’s very interesting because although prices are down, buyers are still hesitating to make the purchase,” says Board president, Calvin Lindberg. “Home buyers may not realize this but Lower Mainland homes are very affordable. This is a great time to buy.”
Down 25%
MLS® sales for detached, attached and apartments in March were down 25 per cent compared to March 1997.
Detached
According to the Board’s Housing Price Index (BPI), the price of a detached home in Greater Vancouver in March was $352,020, down from $378,110 in the same month last year, Sales for detached homes were down 25 per cent for a total of 929 sales for the month compared to 1,254 in March of last year.
Attached
In the attached or townhouse category, sales were down 30 per cent with 288 sales recorded. The Index price for town houses in March has remained steady at $225,360.
Apartment
Apartment sales overall were: also down by about 23 per cent while the Indexed price was $157,420, down from $162,624 in March 1997.
5% Down Payment
Lindberg adds that, “Now that CMHC has announced that all home buyers have access to mortgage insurance with as little as five per cent down, more home buyers call get into and move-up in the housing market. This program provides home buyers with an excellent new advantage.”
The Index
According to the Board’s HPI, some of the regions that have seen strong price decreases in the detached area since March of 1997 include:
- Vancouver West – prices have decreased by 17.5 % to $588,790
- West Vancouver – prices have decreased by 10.7 % to $532,350
- Burnaby – prices have decreased by 4.8 % to $356, 990
- Richmond – prices have decreased by 6.1 % to $367,160
The Way We Were
History is always fun when it makes you wonder if the way we were may be the way we will be.
Excerpt from the annuls of the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver – April 1, 1998.
a bit early for April Fools’ no?
@doc
Guess I’m not much of a trickster as I hadn’t considered that aspect.
The difference is, back in 1998, it took less than 50% of income to buy a SFH and only 25% of income to buy a condo. Today it takes over 80% for a house and 40% for a condo.
1998 was pretty affordable, 2015 is definitely not.
http://www.rbc.com/economics/economic-reports/pdf/canadian-housing/house-march2015.pdf
@Michael
and with that knowledge does it not make you wonder why buyers were seemingly more hesitant then than now
Interesting to say the least- in 1998 we were in the “shadow”of the turnover of Hong Kong. Plus 1998 was time of Asian Contagion.
Today we are further up the mountain of Chinese buyers, now mostly from mainland China.
What will the shadow of this mountain look like? ( if there is one? Fyi I think there will be but not for awhile yet.)
Hey Larry, what’s your take on the market right now?
Is the West Side mostly dominated by Chinese investors? and do you think that’s having an impact on the EastSide and North Shore? As in, home owners grabbing their huge profits and downsizing to houses further out.
Or do you think the EastSide and North Shore are really hot right now because of locals upgrading from apartments and townhouses, and taking advantage of the low rates?
Apartments don’t seem to be really “hot” right now, which makes me question if it’s rates that are solely responsible for this heated market.
Thanks
Back in 1998 we were still in a declining Real Estate market than started in 1994. This decline continued until 2000.
This Current Real Estate market has most of the signs of a Bubble ready to bust.
Toronto’s last bubble burst within a couple of months in 1988, from spring to summer the market disappeared.
It took 10 years to hit the bottom.
Vancouver declined from 1994 to 2000. We have seen a great run, 14 years, nothing goes up forever.
Bonaventure