It’s a good time to own an apartment or townhouse – that is, if you’re looking to sell.
Metro Vancouver’s real estate market was driven by a high demand for condominiums and townhomes last month – and Burnaby was no exception, according to a report released by the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV) on Friday.
The data shows there were 333 apartment listings in Burnaby in May, up from April’s 271. There were 141 townhomes listed, compared to April’s 118, and 257 detached homes on the market, an increase from 187 the previous month.
Townhomes saw the highest number of sales, with a 56 per cent increase over the previous month, followed by apartments, with a 16 per cent increase. Detached home sales saw an 11.5 per cent spike.
The real estate board also tracks what’s known as a sales-to-active listings ratio, the rate at which properties are selling.
“Analysts say anywhere where a sales-to-active listings ratio surpasses 20 per cent, it’s then a sellers' market,” says Jill Oudil, REBGV’s president. “Our sales-to-active listings ratio right now for condominiums in Burnaby is 95.5 per cent, which is extraordinarily high. ... Townhomes is very high as well; it’s 84.8 per cent, and detached is 25.5 per cent, so you can see the drastic difference there.”
A combination of factors have led to condos and townhomes fuelling the market, adds Oudil.
“A lot of buyers, instead of trying to make that next jump to where they might do a detached, due to affordability, may stick to a larger townhome. And of course, you have your empty nesters leaving detached homes and going back into the condominium market. There’s also the overall we live in a fabulous place and that’s not changing soon,” she explains.
While prices continued to climb in May, the total number of transactions actually slowed down when looking at the numbers over a three-month period.
Single detached home sales in Burnaby saw a 31 per cent decline when comparing data from March to May 2016, to data from March to May 2017. The same occurred for townhomes (11 per cent) and apartments (15 per cent).
Meanwhile, the median selling price for a detached home in Burnaby in May was $1.67 million, compared to $1.6 million the month before, and $1.7 million the same time last year. The median selling price for townhomes was $776,000 (it was $825,000 the previous month) and $579,000 for apartments (it was $510,000 in April).
Across Metro Vancouver, home buyer activity returned to near-record levels, according to the report.
Last month’s sales were 23.7 per cent above the 10-year May sales average and is the third-highest selling May on record.
The benchmark price for all residential properties in Metro Vancouver is currently $967,500, an 8.8 per cent increase over May 2016 and a 2.8 per cent increase compared to April 2017.
