Surging sales for Metro Vancouver homes pushed prices to all-time highs, the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV).
Shoppers snapped up a total of 4,060 homes during the month, according to the REBGV. That’s 53.7% more than in March 2014 and 32.6% more than in February.
The benchmark price for a detached home has risen each month consecutively since October 2013 and has crept to an all-time high for the 10th consecutive month. The new all-time high price for a detached home in the region is $1,052,800.
The benchmark price for apartment properties is now an all-time high of $390,200 whereas the benchmark price for attached properties is now an all-time high of $484,900.
“We're seeing strong competition amongst home buyers today,” said new REBGV president Darcy McLeod. “This is leading to more multiple-offer situations and some upward pressure on home prices. For sellers, this means that it’s taking less time, on average, for your home to sell if you have it priced correctly for today's market.”
Last month’s sales were 26.8 per cent above the 10-year sales average for the month.
The sales-to-active-listings ratio is perhaps the best gauge of the strength of a market. In March, the ratio for Metro Vancouver sat at 32.8%, or the highest that it has been since July 2007.
Past presidents of the REBGV have explained to Business in Vancouver that conventional real estate wisdom is that a market is considered to be a buyers’ market when the sales-to-active-listings ratio is below 13%. It is considered a sellers’ market when the ratio is above 21% for at least a few months.
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