Vancouver home sales drop 5.6 per cent in 2016

VANCOUVER – The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver says home sales dropped 5.6 per cent last year compared with 2015.

The board says the MLS Home Price Index composite benchmark price for all residential properties in Metro Vancouver fell to $897,600 in December, a 17.8 per cent slide from the same month the previous year.

The figures wrap up a tumultuous year in one of the country’s most watched housing markets.

READ MORE: The ‘foreign investor’ voted business newsmaker of 2016

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Residential property sales in the city started the year off strong, sometimes hitting record highs.

But partway through the year the market started to cool, with sales and eventually prices declining.

A number of measures have been implemented in an effort to address home affordability concerns in Vancouver, including a 15 per cent tax for foreign buyers and a tax on homes left vacant.

READ MORE: Home sales to slip about 3% in 2017 as new mortgage rules slow Toronto, Vancouver markets, CREA says

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• Vancouver real estate prices continue to soar
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• Todd Talbot from Love it or List it Vancouver shares his real estate insight

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