All the Leaves Are Brown and the Sky is Grey

And we are not talking about the weather!

The month of August has been dismal for home sales.   Prices have not noticeably followed, but as this table indicates they are slipping.  This news has already leaked out to the Vancouver Sun last week, but come September 1st when all the papers get the official numbers from the real estate board, we expect to see headlines predicting “Doom and Gloom”. The media will likely blame the 15% tax – which would not totally be the case, as we know the sales began falling off in July.

We’ve personally compiled the statistics below.  They compare sales of detached homes only in the main areas we (Andrews Group) sell in – West Van, North Van and the Westside of Vancouver.

These figures are from the first 26 days of each of the months of August, in 2016, 15 and 14. Since, generally speaking, August is one of the slowest months of the year, we also compared April and June of this year.

The table below provides a snapshot of:

Number of Sales– month & year

Average Price- sale price for that month

Average Difference- above or below the asking price

*RED indicates Below asking, GREEN indicates ABOVE asking

The noticeable trend is the number of sales dropping well off the norm with only 9 sales in WV compared to 53 and 62 from 2014 & 2015.  The Westside is in similar condition with only 25 sales compared to 119 and 122.  North Van, though so far not hurting quite as badly, is still well off sales with 40 sales compared to 82 and 84. We are sure you will agree, these are very significant changes to the market.

Also worth noting is the difference in price. The gap is much larger off the asking price in August 2016. For example North Van, the best performing market, has been averaging “over asking” sale prices for a year now, but in August the average sale price was 60,000 below asking.

As for the prices, after increasing month after month for the last 2 years, we see a trend in the opposite direction. We would predict this continues for some time.

If you are thinking of selling your home, it might be wise to try and do it quickly!