What’s happening in the East Van Real Estate Market?
Happy Holidays WeLoveEastVan.com readers! Christmas season is here and our team couldn’t be more excited for everything festive, especially now that our new website was released! We have been working hard behind the scenes to offer a good looking, easy to use and useful site for you, so we hope you like it! We’re still working out a few minor kinks, and we’ll be releasing better map functionality soon, so keep coming back to check it out and feel free to send over some feedback.
We’re at the time of the year where the Real Estate market starts to slow down while everyone does much more fun activities, so if you’re looking to buy, don’t relax yet as you might find an opportunity waiting.
The big news this month is the upcoming mortgage stress test for Buyers with 20% down or more, coming into play on January 1st. This same stress test was instituted on Buyers with less than 20% down back in 2016 and didn’t slow the market so I don’t expect this change to affect the market aside from leading some Buyers to sit on the sidelines for a bit longer into the year, and perhaps a decline in the high end detached market. Note that if you are pre-approved before January 1st, you’ll have 120 days to buy under the old rules rather than satisfy the new stress test (this only works for certain lenders – see my post on the stress test for a bit more information, and contact your mortgage broker!)
Let’s take a general look at November’s stats, and check out my individual blog posts for a bit more detail into each market.
– Condos in East Vancouver: Inventory was the same if not down slightly in November over the previous month, though the sales to active ratio increased to 95%. The 1 bedroom condo market jumped significantly from a 104% sales to active ratio to a 172% sales to active ratio, meaning demand is far out pacing supply (which has been the case for a few years now). Some good news – price per sqft is down slightly over last month, so hopefully the months of ever increasing prices is coming to an end. Read more on my East Van Condo Market Update.
– Townhouses in East Vancouver: The townhouse market showed some variation depending on if it was a 1 bedroom, 2 bedroom or 3+ bedroom townhouse, though overall the inventory (86 listings, 61 were new), price per sqft ($751/sqft) and the sales to active ratio (35%) was steady compared to last month. The HPI price rose slightly to $861,000. Notet hat inventory levels are quite high compared to the last 2 years, which is really promising for townhouse Buyers. Read more on my East Van Townhouse Market Update.
– Detached Houses in East Vancouver: The detached market shows a slight drop in inventory to 802 homes, o which 230 are new. The sales to active ratio dropped from 13% to 12%, though the price grew slightly to $1,573,500. The number of days on market climbed to 23 days, though keep in mind that nice properties on the lower end of the market are still selling quickly and in multiple offers (this should continue after the stress test is in place). Read more on my East Van Detached House Market Update.
Don’t hesitate to let me know if you have any questions or want to chat real estate! This month is a good time to sit down with us to talk about your 2018 Real Estate goals. We can give you professional insight and advice on how the market flows every year, what to expect after this Stress Test is instituted and what your options are given your current and ideal scenario.
