The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver is reporting a “fall pickup” in home sales.
According to the REBGV, a total of 2,858 homes were sold in October 2019, a 45.4 percent increase from transactions recorded in the same month last year.
Compared to home sales in September this year, last month’s record represents a 22.5 percent increase.
The REBGV also noted in a media release Monday (November 4) that the October 2019 activity was 9.8 percent above the 10-year October sales average.
“The recent uptick in home sales is moving us into a more historically typical market,” association president Ashley Smith said. “Both sale and listing activity is trending around our long-term averages in recent months.”
The real estate board covers Burnaby, Coquitlam, Maple Ridge, New Westminster, North Vancouver, Pitt Meadows, Port Coquitlam, Port Moody, Richmond, South Delta, Squamish, Sunshine Coast, Vancouver, West Vancouver, and Whistler.
“Home buyers have more confidence today than we saw in the first half of the year,” Smith said. “With prices edging down over the last year and interest rates remaining low, hopeful home buyers are becoming more active this fall.”
The board also reported that the composite benchmark price for all residential properties in Metro Vancouver is $992,900.
The figure represents a slight 0.2 percent increase over September 2019, a 1.7 percent decrease over the past six months, and 6.4 percent decrease from October 2018.
In a separate news release, the Fraser Valley Real Estate Board reports that the market has also picked up.
The FVREB covers North Delta, Surrey, White Rock, Langley, Abbotsford, and Mission.
According to the board, 1,592 sales were made in October 2019, representing an 18.5 percent increase over in September 2019.
Last month’s transactions were also 37.8 percent higher than October 2018.
“Our market started to pick up in the summer and we’ve been steadily improving since,” board president Darin Germyn said in the release. “It’s rare to see October home sales in the Fraser Valley outpace April and that’s what we’ve seen this year; our typical spring and fall markets have flipped.”
Original from https://www.straight.com/news/1321466/fall-pickup-home-sales-reported-real-estate-board-greater-vancouver