Hi %%FirstName%%,
Happy New Year! We hope everyone had a happy and harmonious holiday season to end off 2016.
Let's all take a deep breath as one of the most tumultuous years in Metro Vancouver real estate is finally over!
Government intervention (or some would say, meddling) resulted in hundreds of millions of dollars in lawsuits, some cheers, and some jeers from buyers whose deals prior to the implementation date were not exempted from the tax. Additional changes involved reducing the supply of mortgage money through the tightening of lending regulations.
The net effect so far has been to shift the flow of foreign money into other cities such as Toronto and Victoria and even below the border, Seattle. Metro Vancouver's market ended 2016 with a whimper as sales fell below the 10-year average, especially for single family homes.
In the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver, out-of-town areas (Bowen Island, Sunshine Coast, Squamish, Whistler) saw increases while all other areas saw small drops in value. Typically, there is a small drop in value in December as most sellers take their homes off of the market for the holiday season. It will be interesting to see how the market adjusts to the new rules this month and next.
In the Fraser Valley, only condos showed an increase in value over November's numbers. Townhouses and single family homes both had modest decreases over the previous month.
I predict that there will be a slight increase again in foreign buyers coming to purchase in the Lower Mainland as they take advantage of the slight decrease in value over the peak prices in 2016. The corresponding reduction in competition may allow those buyers to negotiate lower pricing against sellers who may be fearing an additional drop in the value of their properties.
Click on the links (in blue) below for the statistics package for your area:
(The links each take a few seconds to open as they are files stored on my Google Drive.)
| BURNABY/NEW WEST | |||
| Burnaby East | Burnaby North | Burnaby South | New Westminster |
| TRI-CITIES | |||
| Coquitlam | Port Coquitlam | Port Moody | |
| VANCOUVER | |||
| Metro Vancouver | Vancouver East | ||
| NORTH SHORE | |||
| North Vancouver | West Vancouver | ||
| SOUTH FRASER/RICHMOND | |||
| Ladner | Tsawwassen | Richmond | |
| RIDGE MEADOWS | |||
| Pitt Meadows | Maple Ridge | ||
| UP THE COAST/ISLAND | |||
| Bowen Island | Squamish | Sunshine Coast | Whistler |
Here are the full statistic packages for:
Fraser Valley Report (which includes Surrey, North Surrey, South Surrey/White Rock, Cloverdale, Delta, Langley, Abbotsford, Chilliwack, and Mission.)
Below is a link to a graph showing the rise in prices in the Lower Mainland just for resale properties (no new homes) over the last year. This link is live so it will update when the new statistics come in each month. LINK to live graph
Please feel free to contact us if you would like specific information for your sub-area or if you would like a market evaluation of the value of your home.
All the best for 2017!