East Vancouver Real Estate Market Update Blog – July 2016
Hello everyone and happy summer! With the warmer weather brings some (ever so slight) changes to the market.
This month has brought some news from the mortgage side. The Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI) sent a clear message to the mortgage industry on Thursday that it will “place an even greater emphasis” on confirming that lenders are paying close attention to key areas of the market. This includes an increased effort on the part of banks and other mortgage providers to verify borrowers’ income levels (especially when foreign money is involved), the need for greater scrutiny of loans to borrowers with high debt levels or low credit scores (to ensure their customers will be able to make mortgage payments if interest rates rise), and challenging the appraised values of housing when approving loans.For most Buyers, these changes won’t be noticeable when it comes to your mortgage, especially if you’re working with a great mortgage broker, but for people with unique situations, things might be a little more challenging.
At the end of the day, hopefully this leads to a few more subject offers (rather than subject free) which would hopefully balance the market. From my own point of view, I had three weeklong subject offers accepted for clients this week, in different price points, in different neighbourhoods in East Van, which is quite a change from the last few months. Two of these offers were on properties where the first offer collapsed so we managed to sneak in with another offer, while the last offer was did go into multiples and ours was accepted. The more inventory we see, the more flexibility Buyers will have. With housing in Vancouver dominating the news, Sellers might be more motivated to sell, which will increase inventory, which will balance the market.
Onto the numbers.. condos, townhouses and houses are all seeing slight changes to their market. It looks like the detached market is slowing a little quicker than the others, though with it’s high price points, that’s not a big surprise. Check out the “sales to active” ratio below – a balanced market is about 15-20%, and the detached market in East Van is sitting at 30%. The average price in East Van is $1,682,106 for a detached home, $784,310 for a townhouse and $525,072 for a condo.
East Vancouver Condo Market Update
East Vancouver Townhouse and Half Duplex Market Update
East Vancouver Detached House Market Update
Give us a call to chat about how the current market affects you – the properties you want to sell and the properties you want to buy. Marketing, negotiation and skill in navigating this market will make a big difference in the coming months, so you want to make sure that you’re working with a great team with a proven success record.
As things slow down in the summer, it’s a great time to connect with mortgage brokers and realtors to ensure you’ve asked the preliminary questions and have the pre-approvals necessary to get started, confidently.
Sellers, feel free to fill out our Home Evaluation Form to get started. And Buyers, sign up for a Custom MLS Account to get a sense of what’s available within your budget.
Enjoy the sun!
