East Vancouver Real Estate Market Update Blog – November 2017
Hello WeLoveEastVan.com readers! Apologies for getting this market update out late, but a seasonal cold held me back the last week. I’m also going to preface this post with the fact that my laptop keyboard isn’t working properly since I accidentally dropped it, so please excuse the typos 🙂
Anyways, things are still happening out there! To no one’s surprise, the OSFI (Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions) announced that they have approved a new stress test for any Buyer with at least 20% down (which encompasses any purchase over $1-million). This means that all Buyers will have to qualify for a mortgage using an interest rate 2% above their approved rate. For a simplified example, if you can get a mortgage with a 3% interest rate, the lenders will qualify you using 5%, even though your mortgage interest rate will eventually be at 3%. This “stress test” ensures that you’ll be able to afford an increase in interest rates, though it does decrease your approval amount. Everyone is asking me if this will affect the market.. well the same stress test was instituted for Buyers with less than 20% down last year, and that market didn’t slow down. I think this will slightly decrease the higher end market, and will make the middle class market (i.e. 2 and 3 bedroom condos and townhouses) even busier since it will decrease affordability for people who were just above $1-million. Else, the suburbs are going to see a wave of new interest from city dwellers who can no longer afford an entry level house or townhouse here. In terms of the market in general, I don’t see inventory increasing in the next few months so unless demand subsides, I think the market is going to remain busy.
I have seen some interesting opportunities come up, but they are few and far between. Most well maintained/well priced/well located units are still selling in multiple offers, and those that don’t get an offer after the first week of being listed, usually get one pretty soon after Buyers really it’s still available.
Three different members of the WeLoveEastVan crew bought a new home in the last 2 months, making it four of us this year, so we certainly see some room in this market! Interest rates aren’t nearly as high as you’d expect but mortgage rules are changing constantly, so – and I can’t stress this enough – you need to have a good relationship with a smart mortgage broker. We have a number of fantastic brokers to recommend, just send me an email.
East Van Real Estate Market Statistics
Onto the numbers. Don’t miss the graphs below detailing trends in inventory, price and sales to active ratio (interest levels):
East Van Condos: The condo market kept going up. The HPI price increased slightly to $538,500. The average price per sqft increased a higher percentage (to $880/sqft) compared to average price (to $654,658) so I can only assume that the units that sold are smaller than normal. Inventory increased slightly last month, but we’re still down compared to the highest inventory we’ve seen this year or last year. October 2016 showed 272 units for sales, whereas this October showed 204. Check out my full condo market update.
East Van Townhouses: The townhouse market had a 37% sales to active ratio last month, down from 59% last month, and this year’s high of 89% in April. The HPI price increased ever so slightly to $855k. The price per sqft increased to $754/sqft, which is close to the year’s high of $769/sqft. Total inventory increased significantly over last month, going from 54 units to 81 units, which explains why the sales to active ratio dropped. Check out my full townhouse market update.
East Van Houses: The house market in East Van showed an HPI price of $1,566,000, which has been consistent since July. The sales to active ratio is at a reasonable 13%, again, remaining fairly steady since July. Total inventory shows 801, of which 248 are new listings. Even though inventory is close to the highest we’ve seen, the number of new listings is dropping which shows that there’s a lot of stagnant inventory on the market (I can point out too many over priced or total gut jobs). Check out my full detached house market update.
As always, if you want to chat real estate – either buying or selling – shoot me an email 🙂
(Green is Detached Houses, Blue is Townhouses, Orange is Condos)