Lower Mainland real estate west of the Fraser Valley hit a new money milestone in March -- for the first time, the average price for a single detached home hit $1 million.
"If you look at our market in the last 12 months, [it's] probably the hottest real estate market in the world," realtor Paul Eviston told CTV News.
According to the B.C. Real Estate Association, there were 1,344 single detached homes sold in greater Vancouver last month, at a total cost of nearly $1.35 billion.
"When we look at the price of a single detached home, in March it was the first month ever that we saw that price crest a million dollars," the association's Cameron Muir told CTV News.
The March sales included many high end homes, but even a standard single detached house in greater Vancouver will now cost more than $800,000. A year ago, a similar house would have cost $650,000.
Prices have climbed 23.3 per cent in just 12 months, and are now nearly three per cent higher than they were before the housing market crashed.
Muir called it, "the most significant rebound I've seen in the market since 1970."
Other Canadian markets are recovering, but not as quickly as Vancouver's.
Eviston said the Olympic Games might have spurred interest in housing here.
The warm winter could also take some of the credit. "You can't underestimate how weather affects people's buying patterns, and that's a huge part of it," Eviston said.
With a report from CTV British Columbia's Shannon Paterson
