This “Weeks” year in review and predictions for 2022
Vancouver Real Estate Market Intelligence:
January 24th, 2022
Reading between the lines: Metro Vancouver home sales set a record in 2021
It was a record year for residential sales in Metro Vancouver, and residential home sales reached an all-time high in 2021. That being said, there are two very distinct markets in Vancouver. At present, the luxury home market starts at around $3,000,000 for townhomes and condos, and around $4,000,0000 for detached homes. These sectors of the market are still far slower than in the peak of these markets in 2015. To boil down further, I have seen that the largest number of sales on the Westside, Downtown, and East Vancouver are in the sub $3,000,000 range. I’ve also watched time and again how much of our news is glamorized with buzzwords to maximize article views. In this day and age, reading between the lines is the key to finding valuable information that you can rely on. That’s the goal of this article.
For example, if we look at 2015 sales and compare them with 2022.
2015 Detached Westside sales above $3,000,000 = 911
2021 Detached Westside sales above $3,000,000 = 743
2015 Detached Westside sales below $3,000,000 = 1,137
2021 Detached Westside sales below $3,000,000 = 457
2015 Attached Westside sales above $3,000,000 = 96
2021 Attached Westside sales above $3,000,000 = 145
Last year’s sales total was 33.4% above the 10-year sales average. However, as you can see, that figure is still way below the number of sales in 2015. The key contributors for this discrepency, in my opinion, are two factors.
- Government intervention – The introduction of the Foreign Buyer Tax, the Vacant Homes Tax, and Increased Property Transfer Tax
- Lack of foreign capital entering our market – Reduced ability for funds to be moved from China to Canada, combined with a lack of faith in our long term luxury market.
Reading between the lines we have focused on our key neighborhoods to show how their year over year price increases relate to the above factors.
Showing a completely different story, we look at East Vancouver detached homes.
2015 Detached Eastside sales above $2,000,000 = 63
2021 Detached Eastside sales above $2,000,000 = 501
When I purchased my first home in East Vancouver in 2007, I remember that was a time when no one imagined home prices would consistently rise over $1,000,000. Today, the way the market is headed, there won’t be any detached home options under $2,000,000 within the next couple years.
The two major trends we have seen emerge over the past few years:
- The Westside represents the greatest potential for upside as we are still not at peak prices.
- East Vancouver’s prices are still going up every year. That said, they will likely reach a cap based on affordability. I think we will see the bulk of transactions in the upper end range of the market will be locally driven gravitate towards the Westside. Foreign buyers taxes and vacant homes taxes have deteriorated international interest in the Vancouver market.
If you would like to discuss a game plan for your next purchase or sale, don’t hesitate to reach out to us. Our full service team of 5 licensed agents, 2 client care managers, and our combined 50+ years of experience provide our clients with industry leading results year over year.
We look forward to connecting with you soon. Your ongoing support and referrals are very much appreciated.
Kind regards,
Patrick Weeks Real Estate
Patrick Weeks Real Estate – 2020-2021 YTD performance:
- Top 5 out of 14,000 Greater Vancouver Realtors
- Over $400,000,000 in total sales.
- Over 200 homes sold
- Top 5 team RE/MAX Western Canada