Metro Vancouver housing prices will cool down this year: Royal LePage

By

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – Housing prices continued to climb across Greater Vancouver in the fourth quarter of last year, albeit at a slightly slower pace, finds a new report from Royal LePage. However, the average price of a single-detached home or bungalow will still cost you well over $1 million.

“Two-storey homes were up 27 per cent to $1.6 million, the medium price, bungalows were up 28.8 per cent to 1.4 million and condominiums were up 15 per cent to just over $500,000 to $530,000,” explains Royal LePage President and CEO Phil Soper. “Vancouver continued to outpace the rest of the country in terms of home price appreciation. Overall price increases in the region, on an aggregate basis were up 25.6 per cent up year-over-year,” points out Soper.

The company’s fourth quarter report attributes a slightly slower increase to low inventory levels and bruised consumer confidence. Soper says the agency is predicting a “modest” 8.5 per cent decline in the price of an average home across Greater Vancouver in 2017, meaning sales are also expected to drop.

“The number of transactions in the Greater Vancouver area, the Lower Mainland will fall in 2017 as people step back to assess what’s going on,” says Soper.

“However, inventory will continue to be the story in the New Year, as any movement within the market will be exaggerated at their current, extremely low levels, meaning that if sentiment remains unchanged, conditions could worsen and prices may fall even further,” says Randy Ryalls with Royal LePage.

Soper says despite the expected price correction, the market is still trending upward in the long-term. “While there will be a modest re-set in the Vancouver real estate market, the medium prognosis is still very strong.”

Just last week, we reported Metro Vancouver home sales fell 39.4 per cent from a year earlier to 1,714. They were down 22.6 per cent from November, according to the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver, and 5.6 per cent for the year.

Top Stories

Top Stories

Most Watched Today