Real estate prices deflate in July
Benchmark price for Metro Vancouver properties down 2.1 per cent from May
Derrick Penner, Vancouver Sun
Published: Tuesday, August 05, 2008
VANCOUVER - Metro Vancouver real estate prices have dropped back from their record highs over the past two months as properties listed for sale continue to outpace sales in July, the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver reported Tuesday.
The so-called benchmark price for all property types in Metro, excluding Surrey, hit $556,605 in July, down 2.1 per cent from May.
"We're seeing more price reductions in properties listed on the market, which is a levelling impact on the housing price increases experienced at the end of last year and into the first quarter of 2008," Dave Watt, president of the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver, said in a news release.
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This house, which sold for nearly $1 million on Vancouver's east side just over a year ago, would likely not fetch such a price today.
Mark van Manen/Vancouver Sun files
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Font:****The Vancouver board counted 2,174 property sales in July, a 44-per-cent decline from the same month in 2007.
New listings added to inventory, however, increased 24 per cent to 6,104 in July, an increase of 24 per cent.
Fraser Valley markets, which include Surrey, also experienced month-to-month price reductions with Surrey posting the biggest decline in average house price.
Surrey's average detached-home sale, at $520,232, was down six per cent from June.
Sales across the Fraser Valley in July were down 35 per cent to 1,284 compared with the same month a year ago, and new listings rose 20 per cent to 3,742 compared with July 2007 bringing the region to a record high inventory of 12,299 units.
"It's a situation of supply and demand," Kelvin Neufeld, president of the Fraser Valley Real Estate Board, said in a news release. "Buyers are now in the driver's seat in the Fraser Valley and were starting to see that reflected in home prices."
