Greater Vancouver Real Estate Sales Red Hot 70.26% Increase February 2011

Greater Vancouver residential housing market sales increased by a blistering 70.26% in February 2011 with 3,097 units sold compared to the 1,819 in January 2011. February’s Greater Vancouver MLS sales of 3,097 units were the highest level of sales achieved in the past ten month’s since April 2010’s 3,512 unit sales. It was also substantially higher than the 2,742 February home-sale average recorded in the region over the last ten years and 25.23% up from the 2,473 sales recorded in February 2010. This was also a 109.3% increase from the 1,903 homes sold in February 2009. “We saw an increase in demand across our region last month as more buyers entered the market in advance of the spring season,” said Jake Moldowan, President of the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV). Property sales across the region were very strong in February with especially high sales volumes in Richmond and Vancouver Westside.

“The intensity of this activity varied between communities. Our statistics tell us that single detached homes in Richmond and the west side of Vancouver remain the most sought after properties in our marketplace,” said Moldowan. In their March 2, 2011 news release, the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver stated: New listings for detached, attached and apartment properties in Greater Vancouver totalled 5,693 in February 2011. This represents a 23.6 per cent increase compared to February 2010 when 4,606 properties were listed, and an 18.6 per cent in- crease compared to January 2011 when 4,801 homes were added to the MLS® in Greater Vancouver. Sales of detached properties on the MLS® in February 2011 reached 1,402, an increase of 42.6 per cent from the 983 detached sales recorded in February 2010, and a 138.9 per cent increase from the 587 units sold in February 2009. The benchmark price for detached properties increased 6 per cent from February 2010 to $848,645. Sales of apartment properties reached 1,206 in February 2011, a 12.3 per cent increase compared to the 1,074 sales in February 2010, and an increase of 85.5 per cent compared to the 650 sales in February 2009. The benchmark price of an apartment property increased 2.2 per cent from February 2010 to $399,397. Attached property sales in February 2011 totalled 489, a 17.5 per cent increase compared to the 416 sales in February 2010, and a 101.2 per cent increase from the 243 attached properties sold in February 2009. The benchmark price of an attached unit increased 2.3 per cent between February 2010 and 2011 to $507,118. The REBGV stated that some areas of the Greater Vancouver real estate market have seen substantial price increases in the MLSLink Housing Price Index (HPI) in February 2011. The benchmark price of a detached home in Richmond increased by $190,739 to $1,099,679. Vancouver West detached home prices increased by $222,185 to $1,850,072. Detached home prices across the region increased $51,762 between November 2010 and February 2011 to $848,645. “To effectively analyse real estate statistics for the purpose of buying or selling a home, it’s critical to focus on your neighbourhood of choice because, like we see today, conditions and prices can fluctuate significantly within the same city or municipality,” added Moldowan.