Home sales in Vancouver area down 52% last month, real estate board says

The housing market just isn’t what it used to be.

Residential home sales in the Vancouver area plummeted almost 52 per cent in December 2022 compared to the same month the previous year.

Year-over-year sales sank about 34 per cent, according to the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver.

“Prices are down about 10 per cent of the peak over the past six months and that’s…over the whole market,” said Andrew Lis, REBGV’s director, economics and data analytics.

Final numbers aren’t out yet for the Fraser Valley, but realtors say they’ve seen significant drops there too.

“I mean it’s just down. We’re dramatically down,” said Del Touet, owner or Royal LePage Preferred Realty in Mission.

Touet said sales at his office took a big hit last year, dropping 28-30 per cent.

Housing prices fell too.

“Pricing in the Mission market is down 19 to 21 per cent overall,” he said.

Lis blames the last year of uncertainty on rising mortgage rates.

“Over the past year, we’ve had the Bank of Canada hike rates seven times out of eight interest rate announcements,” he said. “It’s really put a big damper on the market through the big increase on borrowing costs.”

Touet agrees mortgage rates played a big part.

“Whenever you get government intervention in the free market, it’s never good for the general public. In this case, it’s not good with interest rates as far as for the sellers or buyers. It’s not working for anybody,” he said.

As for those trying to get into the market, Lis said they may not see any dramatic price drops.

“The number of listings coming to market just isn’t high enough to push that inventory level up to where you might see price adjustments on a big scale,” he explained.

But Touet said he feels it’s currently more of a balanced market.

“The sellers are not winning and the buyers really are not winning," he said. "Sales will still proceed but just very, very slowly."

Touet is optimistic things will improve in the spring.

Meanwhile, Lis said what happens in 2023 will depend on whether buyers and sellers are able to adjust to the new interest rate environment.