How high mortgage rates are impacting B.C. home sales and prices

Properties are selling for less and staying on the market longer, recently released reports on real estate in British Columbia show.

The B.C. Real Estate Association said in a report Thursday that high mortgage rates across Canada continue to impact home sales in the province, and many regions are seeing sales below normal levels.

The BCREA reported a 42 per cent drop in sales in July, compared to the same month last year.

As sales decline, there are now 28 per cent more available homes on the market compared to a very low inventory in 2021. 

The association noted the inventory is still low this year, but the slow pace of sales has tipped some regions into balanced, or even buyer-favouring, markets.

At the same time, buyers are still paying more than they were in 2021.

Data from the group HouseSigma published earlier this week showed July's median price in Metro Vancouver is now at $880,000. The BCREA had the average across the entire province at $923,449.

According to HouseSigma, the median it's seeing now is 0.9 per cent lower than the average price in June of this year, but slightly higher than in July 2021. 

Looking at the last six months, the median for the region as a whole has dropped 14.4 per cent, the company said.

HouseSigma looked at specific municipalities, and found that buyers in Delta and Surrey are seeing the biggest decreases in price when comparing July to February.

According to its data, the median in Delta is down 24.7 per cent, and in Surrey, 24 per cent.

Coquitlam is the only municipality it looked at where buyers are actually paying a bit more (3.9 per cent) than they were towards the start of the year.