Vancouver housing market plunges further

The residential real estate market in Metro Vancouver continues to plunge, with home and apartment sales in September down 32 per cent from the same month last year, according to the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver.

The REBGV is also reporting an eight per cent decline from August. Eugen Klein, REBGV president, blames the drop on new government mortgage regulations.

“There’s been a clear reduction in buyer demand in the three months since the federal government eliminated the availability of a 30-year amortization on government-insured mortgages,” Klein said in a release. “This makes homes less affordable for the people of the region.”

Klein said the total number of properties listed on MLS increased 14 per cent from this month last year, and increased 4.5 per cent from August.

“Today, our sales-to-active-listings ratio sits at eight per cent, which puts us in a buyer’s market. This ratio has been declining in our market since March when it was 19 per cent,” Klein said.

Prices of homes, however, have seen little decline. The benchmark price of a detached property decreased 0.5 per cent from last year to $935,600. Apartment prices fell 0.7 per cent to a benchmark of $368,600, and attached units fell 2.7 per cent to $458,600.