July home sales across the whole of BC fell a modest 3.4 per cent year over year, according to British Columbia Real Estate Association figures released August 11 – far less steeply than in the major centres of Greater Vancouver and the Fraser Valley.
“Housing demand has moderated in many regions of the province, after setting records earlier in the year,” said Cameron Muir, BCREA chief economist. “The less frenetic pace of home sales will likely provide a much needed boost to the inventory of homes for sale. The rate of home price appreciation is also expected to slow from the unsustainable level exhibited this spring.”
Greater Vancouver and the Fraser Valley, which last week reported sales declines of 18.3 and 10.4 per cent respectively, dragged down BC’s overall figures, offsetting significant year-over-year home sales increases in Victoria, Vancouver Island and the Okanagan.
Broken down by area, out of the major centres (where the statistics are less volatile), the Okanagan Mainline board reported the largest year-over-year increase in home sales, up 25.1 per cent over last July to 1,042 transactions. This was followed by Victoria, up 21.3 per cent to 922 sales, and Vancouver Island, up 18.9 per cent to 1,030 units.
Despite the slight overall sales decline across the province, average prices in BC were up 9.1 per cent year over year to $663,411, resulting in the total dollar volume of home sales in July rising 5.4 per cent on an annual basis to just short of $6.6 billion. However, this figure was an uncharacteristic decline over June 2016's $694,925 average price.
The number of active listings throughout BC in July was 25.8 per cent lower than the same month last year, at 32,289 units listed.
Despite Greater Vancouver seeing the largest home sale decline out of the major boards, the region still posted the largest year-over-year increase in average sale price, up 16.3 per cent, followed by the Fraser Valley at 15.8 per cent.
Year-to-date, total BC residential sales dollar volume increased 45.5 per cent to $56.5 billion, when compared with the same period in 2015. Total residential unit sales in 2016 have increased by 25 per cent to 77,261 units.
To read the full BCREA report, click here.
