East Vancouver Condo Market Update – March 2018

The 1 bedroom condo market has a 78% sales to active market (up from last Februarys 63%), the 2 bedroom market saw a 69% sales to active ratio (up from last Februarys 59%) and the 3+ bedroom market saw a 17% sales to active ratio (up from last Februarys 17%).

The average price is $555k for a 1 bedroom condo (up from $468k from last February), $804k for a 2 bedroom condo (up from $680k from last February) and $1,274-million for a 3+ bedroom unit (up from $645k from last February, a number which was skewed by leasehold sales in South East Van). Keep in mind these prices vary significantly between different neighbourhoods. Anything close to downtown is going to cost more, whereas Fraserview, Collingwood and Hastings East will offer some more affordable options for you.

The average days on market is just under a week, which makes sense as most properties are listed on Monday thru Wednesday, hold Open Houses over the weekend and take offers on the Monday or Tuesday afterwards. Just about everything goes in multiples offer – which has been the case for years now if you can believe it – so preparation is key. There is no true method to multiple offers, I’m often surprised by what units sell for. There are ways to get a sense of how serious other Buyers are, and there are ways to write the contract to be more appealing to the Seller, but you can never predict what other Buyers will write as it becomes more emotional than logical at a certain point. The best you can do is write an offer that makes sense to you and hope it’s either accepted or that you get another shot to improve it if another Buyer submitted something higher.

I saw some great listings hit the market this week (and we have a couple nice 1 bedroom units in Mount Pleasant hitting the market today!). I’m finding that a lot of units are priced especially low or on the lower end of reasonable, (rather than too high) so Buyers need to know how a unit is priced to get a sense of how competitive it might be and what it *could* sell for.

Overall, inventory increase slightly over last month, but it’s still low. Last April and May had the highest amount of inventory, so more inventory should be coming. If you’re not already on our MLS Concierge Service which keeps a list going of all the properties that hit the market that match your ideal buying criteria, then send me an email and I’ll get you set up!

For Sellers out there – now could be a really good time to make the jump to something bigger, especially if you’re combining two incomes or have some equity in your condo. Talk to a mortgage broker about your finances – you would be surprised as to what your approval is – and then talk to us about value, staging, marketing and how to work a buy and sale!

For Buyers out there – Start thinking about relaxing your criteria so you give yourself a few more options. Units in buildings that don’t have any rental restrictions always sell for more than buildings that restrict rentals, and you won’t be competing with investors if you look in buildings with rental restrictions. Also, open up to different neighbourhoods or potentially older buildings (if you’ve only been focusing on new). It’ll be a lifestyle change but it can offer you opportunities to get into the market.