Number Of Listings Retreat Along With Declining Sales Volumes!
 

Sellers take homes off the market rather than drop prices further.
 

January 2009 saw a continued reduction in the number of homes listed for sale in Greater Vancouver, while sales volumes in the month were the lowest for the month of January since the early 1980s.

The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV) reports residential property sales in Greater Vancouver declined 58.1% in January 2009 to 762 units from the 1,819 units sold in January 2008.

Residential benchmark prices, as calculated by the MLSLink Housing Price Index®, declined 10.9% to $489,007 between January 2008 and January 2009.

Message From The President
"Home sales and consumer confidence area at a low point at the moment, but the long-term strength and security of our housing market are beyond the reach of the economic clouds of today," says REBGV president, Dave Watt. "Today's short-term conditions are creating long-term opportunities. Buying opportunities have not been this strong in a decade, with low interest rates, broad selection and more affordable prices," Watt said.

New Listings Decline in January
The number of new listings for detached, attached and apartment properties for the month declined 20.9% to 3,700 compared with the 4,675 new listings reported in January 2008.

Sales By Property Type
Detached property sales declined 54.4% in January 2009 to 292 from the 641 units sold in January 2008, whilst the benchmark price declined 11.2% from January 2008 to $659,638.
Apartment property sales declined 58%% in January 2009 to 361 from the 860 units sold in January 2008, whilst the benchmark price of an apartment property in Greater Vancouver declined 11.6% from prior year to $334,602.
Attached property sales declined 65.7% in January 2008 to 109 from the 318 units sold in January 2008, whilst the benchmark price of an attached home declined 8.1% from January 2008 to $425,309.

Average Days On Market (DOM) as reported by MLS®
The average DOM reported for all board areas in January 2009 was 81 days, representing an increase of 7 days from December 2008, and an increase of 28 days from January 2008.
North Vancouver reports an average DOM for January 2009 of 72 days, representing an increase of 5 days from December 2008, and an increase of 30 days from January 2008.
West Vancouver reports an average DOM for January 2009 of 92 days, representing an decrease of 12 days from December 2008, and an increase of 20 days from January 2008.

How We See It
January was a "triple-witching" month of sorts, a combination of uncertain and worsening economic times, low consumer confidence, and extremely poor weather. These factors combined with an historically slow month in the best of years, contributed to the extremely poor performance of the real estate market. Consumers are worried about job security, worried about savings and investments, and have become short-term thinkers when it comes to real estate.

Would-be buyers are preoccupied with what property will be worth in 3 months, 6 months, or 1 year. If a homebuyer plans to live in the property for the mid to long term, 5yrs or longer, they will be happy they bought now in today's more affordable market. Unfortunately, hindsight is always 20/20.

Prices are down off their peak, interest rates are low and moving lower, the federal government as part of their economic stimulus package has provided additional incentives to first-time homebuyers allowing them to access more cash from their RRSP investments, and providing additional relief on closing costs for real estate purchases.

It will also be interesting to see if the recent "Liquidation" marketing events by a major Lower Mainland developer will get buyers off the fence and in the mood to make a home purchase. People tend not to want to be first, but are more than willing to follow others once they make a move.

We applaud the efforts to change the consumers' "mindset" and we'll wait to see the impact of these recent marketing efforts in the February and March sales stats.

Also on a positive note, interest rates are at their lowest in decades and the weakening Canadian dollar against the US greenback and other world currencies will support a resource and real estate based recovery in Canada. What remains uncertain is exactly when we will start to climb out of the recession trough and start the recovery. We may already be taking our first steps!

It's important to remember sales trends differ and will vary from area to area. As always we'd be pleased to discuss your particular situation and provide you with a detailed analysis of the latest and most accurate data.

If you're thinking of buying or selling in the next 3 months, please give us a call! We'd be pleased to meet with you.

Tom Davis & Anita Schmitt, REALTORS® Royal LePage Northshore

Source of data - REBGV MLS® Sales Statistics - February 3, 2009

This communication is not intended to cause or induce breach of an existing agency agreement.