There are two ways to think about a purchase – you can focus on the price, or you can focus on the ‘value’. Local developer James Shouw points out that you shouldn’t really worry about all the numbers and stats because ‘Value’ is forever.
For example, in April, 2009, the number of real estate transactions both declined and increased locally.
The headlines focused on a year-over-year decline, news that would have certainly concerned real estate agents, but that should not have concerned real estate owners: whatever took place in April 2009 was not a reflection of value. In fact, in that month, the number of transactions increased more than 30 per cent from the previous month and the value of the average transaction increased three per cent.
Those numbers offer important lessons. As a developer, I’m primarily concerned about value. As a real estate broker, I’d likely be more concerned with volume. Value and volume can fluctuate in parallel, or in opposition, depending on underlying market dynamics.
There’s more. You can read the whole thing over at the Vancouver Sun. See if you can find some value in it.
