Vancouver home sales rise in January as demand outpaces newly listed properties
The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver says home sales got off to a strong start in the first month of 2024 but the pace of newly listed properties did not keep up with demand.
The board says January home sales totalled 1,427, a 38.5 per cent increase from the same month last year, though it was still 20.2 per cent below the 10-year seasonal average of 1,788 for the month.
There were 3,788 new listings of detached, attached and apartment properties last month, a 14.5 per cent increase from January 2023, but new listings were 9.1 per cent below the 10-year seasonal average.
The composite benchmark home price in January for Metro Vancouver was $1,942,400, a 7.3 per cent increase from a year earlier and a 1.1 per cent decrease from December.
Andrew Lis, the board's director of economics and data analytics, says the strong sales figures last month were somewhat surprising after a quiet December, adding that if sellers “don't step off the sidelines soon, the competition among buyers could tilt the market back into sellers' territory as the available inventory struggles to keep pace with demand.”
He says the board is forecasting a two to three per cent increase in home prices by the end of the year due to higher demand and too little inventory, but that could be an “overly conservative” estimate based on the January figures.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 2, 2024.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Liberal MP says she's leaving politics over disrespectful dialogue, threats, misogyny
Liberal MP Pam Damoff says she won't run again in the next federal election, saying she has experienced misogyny, disrespectful dialogue in politics and threats to her life.
Concerns about Plexiglass prompt inspections at some Loblaws locations in Ottawa
Inspections are underway at more than one Loblaws location in Ottawa after complaints were filed about tall Plexiglass barriers.
Federal employees will be required to spend 3 days a week in the office
Starting in September, public servants in the core public administration will be required to work in the office a minimum of three days a week. The Treasury Board Secretariat says executives will need to be in the office four days per week.
OPP officer said 'someone's going to get hurt' before wrong-way Hwy. 401 crash
As multiple Durham police cruisers were chasing a robbery suspect on the wrong side of Highway 401 Monday night, an Ontario Provincial Police officer shared his concerns, telling a dispatcher, "Someone's going to get hurt."
Ont. woman who faked pregnancy to defraud doulas arrested again on similar charges
Victims of a Brantford, Ont., woman who was sentenced to house arrest earlier this year for defrauding and deceiving doulas say they’re not surprised she’s been apprehended again on similar charges.
Five human skeletons, missing hands and feet, found outside house of Nazi leader Hermann Göring
Archeologists have unearthed the skeletons of five people, missing their hands and feet, at a former Nazi military base in Poland.
Poilievre returns to House unrepentant for calling Trudeau 'wacko,' Speaker not resigning
An unrepentant Pierre Poilievre returned to the House of Commons on Wednesday to pepper the prime minister about his drug decriminalization policies after being booted the day prior for refusing to take back calling Justin Trudeau 'wacko' over his approach to the issue.
Construction begins on LGBTQ2S+ national monument in Ottawa
Shovels have hit the ground for constuction on Canada's LGBTQ2S+ national monument in Ottawa.
B.C. man awarded $5,000 in damages in first-of-it-kind intimate image case
In a first-of-its-kind case, a B.C. tribunal has ruled on a dispute involving the non-consensual sharing of intimate images, awarding damages and issuing orders that the photos be destroyed and taken offline.