May 2016 Market Update

Reviewing the May 2016 MLS statistics the glaring highlight is the month over month increase in detached house values. It was an astounding 8.27% in East Vancouver and 7.58% on the Westside. Those are shocking. I think we’d be hard-pressed to find a month where there was a sharper rise in the past…and year-over-year those increases were 36.09% and 34.73% respectively.

We are, of course, well aware of the prices rising for Vancouver real estate and you can see that reflected in the year-over-year increases for all types of housing. What is beginning to change a bit is that the vice of low supply and high demand that’s been tightening and driving those prices up is easing. No wonder. The record-breaking pace that was being set earlier in the year is extremely difficult to maintain.

Sales and new listings remained fairly flat from the month before, and supply is increasing slightly. We don’t believe that this is necessarily an indication of a major shift …but it is something to keep an eye on. For now, we believe that we are just seeing the market begin to fatigue a little and that perhaps the historically slower summer season is starting a little early (just as this year the busy spring season began early).