The Market Watch #3

Vancouver Real Estate Trends.

Author

Gerald Chan
June 07, 2024

0️⃣3️⃣

Hi All,

Here is a quick shot of ☕️ REAL ESTATE ESPRESSO - things I’m pondering and exploring. Feel free to forward along if the spirit moves you.

This edition is brought to you by Gerald Chan Realtor,

He Pulled the Trigger!

Today, the cost of shelter is the single biggest driver of inflation. This includes rent, and mortgage interest costs, which have been pushed higher by the Bank of Canada’s own interest rate hikes. Shelter inflation is being driven in large part by a combination of high demand, due to rapid population growth/Immigration and a shortage of housing supply, due to structural impediments/red tape and legislation. (May 2024, Globe and Mail.)

It’s a relief to hear that the Bank of Canada has deemed there is enough drop in inflation pulled the Trigger to reduce their overnight interest rate to 4.75%. Not much, as he had already suggested in previous announcements but a step in the right direction 👍

Thanks for stopping - much appreciated 🙏

VANCOUVER, RICHMOND AND BURNABY HOME PRICES
What is a “Typical” Home Selling for?

The graph below combines Single Family Detached, Townhouse and Condos.

We cannot escape the fact that interest rates played a huge part but so did the fact that there was a ban on foreign buyers and a spectrum of other factors.

The interesting thing is in spite of all this, prices did not fall and that could be attributed to the fact that there is a strong demand due to immigration and the lack of housing units

(If we break out the properties types into Single Family, Townhouse and Condos the values and graphs look different but overall, the directions tend to be similar.)

BUYER, SELLER OR BALANCED MARKET?
What does the Data Show?

The Sales to Actives Ratio measures Supply and Demand. For a “typical” Richmond and Burnaby residential property, we have been in a ”Seller’s Market” - meaning the Demand is greater than the supply. Under ‘normal’ conditions we could expect prices to increase but with current government legislation, interest rates and so on, prices have remained largely stable.

Vancouver home prices have also been stable which is consistent with a “Balanced” Market.


MORE STORAGE
My Client’s Dream home needed some Cabinetry.

It’s not unusual to find that we could do with some extra storage. What do we do when after multiple visits to IKEA, Home Depot, Rona and a variety of furniture stores we can’t find a solution … Go Custom!

A quick shout out to API Building and Renovation. A no fuss no fluff company that was a pleasure to work with.) Feel free to contact me if you need some advice on Cabinetry).

RICHMOND FOODCOURTS
Foodie Central - Aberdeen Food Court

Dare I say, The Fairchild Group did a fabulous job with the “vendors” mix in the Food Court. There is genuinely a wide selection to cater for all Asian culinary Preferences.

The Foodcourt does focus on Chinese, Japanese and Korean dishes which basically is what hungry tummies are looking for in this area

For out of towners, Aberdeen is definitely the place to visit. Food is good, a great selection of Asian shops and most of all, toilets are clean 😉

RENTAL
How does the Rental Market Look?