Metro Vancouver housing supply at three-year high, but prices still up: REBGV

The supply of homes for sale in Metro Vancouver reached a three-year high in June, according to the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV).

According to the group, June home sales for the region fell 37.7 per cent from the same month last year, dropping from 3,893 to 2,425.

Home sales also slumped between May and June of this year, dropping 14.4 per cent from the month prior.

May sales were already 28.7 per cent below the 10-year June sales average.

It’s a change from April and May, both months when home sales dipped year-over-year, but still climbed from the previous month.

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REBGV president Phil Moore attributed the slide to a combination of factors.

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“Buyers are less active today. This is allowing the supply of homes for sale to accumulate to levels we haven’t seen in the last few years,” he said in a media release.

“Rising interest rates, high prices and more restrictive mortgage requirements are among the factors dampening home buyer activity today.”

The Bank of Canada will announce whether interest rates will rise again on July 11. It has hiked rates by 0.25 per cent three times since July of last year.

There are currently 11,947 homes of all types listed on the Multiple Listing Service (MLS), up 40.3 per cent from June last year, and up 5.8 per cent from May of this year. It’s the highest number since June 2015, according to the REGVB.

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However, climbing inventory hasn’t put a major dent in prices yet.

The benchmark price for a composite of all home types is currently $1,093,6000, a jump of nine per cent from June 2017, and nearly unchanged from May.

For detached homes, the benchmark is $1,598.200, the REGBV said. That’s up 0.7 per cent from this time last year, but down 0.6 per cent from May. The REGBV said 766 houses were sold, down 42 per cent from June of last year.

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The REGVB said 1,240 apartments were sold in June, down 34.9 per cent from the same month last year. The benchmark price for apartments sits at $704,200, up 17.2 per cent from June 2017 and up 0.4 per cent from May of this year.

The sales-to-active listings ratio, a metric that helps assess how hot a market is, also remained tight. Generally, a sustained ratio below 12 per cent indicates downward price pressure, according to the REGBV.

For detached homes, it has finally slipped under that threshold, to 11.7 per cent, down from 14.7 per cent in May. For townhomes it remains at 24.9 per cent, down from 30.8 per cent in May.

And for condos it remains high, at 33.4 per cent, down from 41.7 per cent in May.