Tag Archives: sfh

BC, data, economy, hype, opinion, predictions, prices

Vancouver Market Summary so far for August 2016

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171 Comments

yvr2zrh wrote a good summary of what the market looks like currently, how media headlines can get it wrong and where we might go from here:

With about 9 market days remaining in the month, we can start to look forward to how the month will end up. During the past two weeks, we have seen so many numbers in the media which highlights not only is the market falling but also that the intricacies of the underlying data are not well-understood by so many people.

The message (although correct in that the market is bad) is so poorly explained and supported and thus the true state of the market is not clear to people. So – here is the summary of what is really happening.

1.) Sales volumes will be down around 25% for unit sales but 33% for dollar volume. My model predicts a 10% decrease in condo sales (which is not much).
2.) The decrease in average price across the entire market is driven primarily by mix at this stage. It is not known how much is driven by actual price movement. Likely little so far.
3. ) Detached home sales are down significantly. This is likely more than a 50% decrease from July volumes and could be more than 65% down from August 2015.
4.) It is not clear what the benchmark price will do but we would expect that the condo price is probably almost unchanged. This market is mainly suffering from supply issues which will take time to resolve. Detached benchmarks are likely to fall in the higher-priced markets. The reason is that there will be buyers but only low-ball buyers testing sellers.
5.) The stats will be partially supported by the month-end date cutoff issues at REBGV. They report sales based on the date they get paperwork. Many of the sales recorded to beat the tax will actually show as an August sale, while they are actually July sales. Since these are from a period with a “different regulatory and tax framework” they are not really comparable and should perhaps be shown separately for accuracy purposes.
6.) Inventory will be up a bit but we still have a supply shortage in condos. Detached house MOI will increase to 10 or more.

Ultimately, this tax is taking money out at the top. It will take a couple months to see how it all plays out but the top of the market will now need to rely on move-up buyers and bona fide immigrants who are permanent residents.

We can already see the headlines coming but some of the intricacies of the stats will not really be understood.

I also have some stories from the front lines which I will get more info on next month and then write a more detailed update.

And – let’s try to keep the discussion on topic as much as possible – we have started to waiver a bit in the past few weeks.

Posted by yvr2zrh on Friday August 19th 2016 in the comments section.

BC, data, predictions, prices, supply

31% of apartments for sale are vacant

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81 Comments

This is kind of amazing.

yvr2zrh posted this analysis of the percentage of property listings for sale that are vacant:

Across REBGV 19% of listed SFH are vacant and 31% of attached/apartments are vacant. So – 50% as the comment from Jesse is higher than actual but not completely out of reach for apartments. Some variations are noted.

SFH Vacant stats (number/%)(in order or highest to lowest)
Richmond 175 – 24%
Van West 148 – 23%
North Van 55 – 21%
Port Coq – 22 – 21%
Whistler – 39 – 21%
Van East – 87 – 20%
Burnaby – 71 – 20%
etc . . .

For Apartment/Attached, the following are the vacant properties
Whistler – 177 (42%)
Maple Ridge – 94 (34%)
Van West – 522 (34%)
New West 110 (33%)
Van East – 169 (33%)
Burnaby – 261 (31%)
Richmond – 298 (31%)
North Van – 115 (30%)

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So, even if you have people who just want to hold back, why would they when there is cash outflows to carry the property and the future outlook is for price decreases?

Those who just hold off selling, where they are actually living in the unit, and are waiting for prices to increase, are bound to die living in that unit.

Later today, I will post my predictions for the 2013 market based on my model. What is really helpful is the MOI/monthly price change graph. That has been a really good indicator of price movements. Thus, I will post the projected MOI movements for 2013 and then we can see where the prices fall. It is important to know that listing volumes are down from last year. This is sufficiently so that we may see 2013 inventory intersect the 2012 inventory possibly at the end of the Spring and then track 2012 for the rest of the year.

This will be interesting to watch because once we are down 10-15% from peak prices – how can they continue to say things like prices are flat and this is a soft landing? I would say any decrease of 20% from the peak is not good as you immediately remove even more move-up buyers and put 1000′s of people underwater immediately.

BC, data, humor, pictures, prices, supply

Home and Condo sales battle map

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74 Comments

VMD has been busy over at the new Vancouver Peak Forum uploading new Battle of Vancouver maps.

These maps show the increase or decline in year-over-year REBGV home price index (The Benchmark or HPI).

There are maps for both the condo market and for single family homes in the lower mainland, along with a few historical maps for comparison.

Here’s the map for SFH, showing big changes in South Surrey and UBC:

Battle_of_GV_SFH_2012_12_arrow

And here’s the map for Condos, which looks similar but the big changes are in South Surrey but Bull forces are firmly entrenched in Guilford and Pitt Meadows.

Battle_of_GV_Condo_2012_12

 

Here’s the original discussion thread for the Condo map and for the SFH map.

You can find more great creations and analysis from VMD over at greaterfoolvancouver.

Open Topic

A Question about Averages

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119 Comments

Can somebody please elaborate on the anticipated average price increases from Friday’s Free for All comments section, with some areas, such as Vancouver West, projected to a 25% increase for SFH MOM?

I rent on the West Side and can assure you that very few of the properties that I drive by on a daily basis are selling.

Most sit stagnant for many months. Furthermore, anything that does actually sell, seems to sell only after significant price reductions.

My limited understanding is that prices typically start to trend downward at a MOI of 6, and at a MOI of 8, price reductions are more pronounced. So with a current MOI of approximately 12 for the West Side (depending upon source), close to record low sales, and a very high inventory level, I find it very hard to believe that average prices will be up 25% this month.

Would that not bring the West Side to an all time record high price?

If this is just a reflection of more expensive homes selling, while the ‘cheaper’ West Side homes sit idle, then is the average price really a good indicator or measure of anything?

Either way, seems discouraging that with record low sales, record high inventory, record debt levels, the new mortgage rules, and all the global uncertainty and doom and gloom, prices could go up at all, let alone 25% in a single month.

Should I just give up on a correction, which in my mind, is long, long, overdue?

BC, data, supply

Detached home sales collapse in June

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198 Comments

Wow.

It looks like the number of detached home sales in a number of lower mainland areas are coming in very low for June this year.

It’s useful to look at what sales looked like in June 2012 compared with the last many years.

Fortunately Inventory posted a bunch of month-end stats showing exactly that this weekend.

Here’s Richmond, which saw an all-time low number of sales of detached homes:

Continue reading Detached home sales collapse in June →