Vancouver Home Sales Plummet, With Almost No Price Relief

Home sales continue to dive in Vancouver, but the region with the highest home prices has yet to see much relief on the pricing side of the equation.

According to the latest report from the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver, home sales dropped 15% in November compared to the previous month in the largest city in British Columbia, a plunge of more than 50% on a YOY basis.

The board reported sales of 1,614 homes last month, a level which is nearly 37% below the 10-year November sales average for the market.

Home prices, however, have not been pulled down much by the sales slowdown: the composite benchmark home price in the region in November sat at about C$1.1M, which is slightly more than $825K in US dollars—a 1.5% slip from October, but still only 1% less than November 2021.

Home listings in Vancouver dropped nearly 25% in November from the previous month with only about 3,000 new listings reported, a 23% YOY decline.

The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver projected that these tepid market conditions will persist as inflation remains stubbornly high in Canada and further interest rate increases are expected, inducing people to forego home purchases through the end of the year.

The malaise in Canada’s housing market is gripping markets from the Atlantic to the Pacific.

The Quebec Professional Association of Real Estate Brokers reported this week that November home sales in Montreal dropped to a level not seen since 2014 as rising interest rates lowered activity and increased supplies.

November home sales totaled 2,716 in Montreal, representing a 38% drop YOY—the largest annual November drop since the Centris provincial database was created in 2000.

Apartments and condos in Montreal fared the worst in YOY comparisons, declining 60% and 41%, respectively, while single-family home sales were down 30% YOY.

The November pricing snapshot for Montreal is similar to Vancouver, with Montreal’s condo prices unchanged from October and single-family homes actually registering a slight increase. YOY, prices for single-family homes have only decreased by about 1% in Montreal.

The median price for a single-family home in Montreal is about C$520K, or roughly $380K in US dollars. Active listings, which tallied 16,397 in November, were up 58% in Montreal YOY, but new listings were down 3%.