REAL ESTATE

REAL ESTATE Median prices drop in East Van as home sales fall

by Carlito Pablo

Median prices of residential properties in East Vancouver dropped month-overmonth in April. This came as sales contracted compared to March 2022.

Median price is regarded as a good indicator of property prices. Unlike average price, the median price, which the middle point in a list of prices, is not affected by extreme high or low values.

Figures released by the regional realestate board indicate that the median price of a detached home in East Vancouver declined to $2,065,000 in April 2022, compared to $2,095,000 in March.

Sales of these homes totalled 110 in April, with 174 sold in March. That means a 36.8 percent decline.

Meanwhile, the median price for townhouses and similar attached properties fell from $1,404,000 in March to $1,350,000 in April. In terms of sales, 65 attached properties were sold in April, compared to 84 in March. That’s a 22.6 percent contraction.

As for East Vancouver apartments or condos, 178 were sold in April, which was a drop from the March 2022 sales of 239. That constituted a 22.5 percent drop.

There was no month-over-month change in median price for condos on this side of the city, at $680,000.

Compared to the West Side of Vancouver, the East Side is a much more affordable area. To illustrate, the median price of a West Side detached home in April 2022 was $3,768,000.

A recent report by RBC Economics noted a “softening” in sales in Vancouver and three other major urban centres in the country: Calgary, Montreal, and Toronto.

This development followed two rounds of key rate increases made by the Bank of Canada in March and April this year.

“All evidence points to the Bank of Canada’s rate tightening cycle starting to have an impact, as recent data released from Canada’s four largest housing markets show early signs of softening demand,” bank economist Carrie Freestone wrote in a May 5 report.

Freestone also noted that “price growth has started to cool”.

Vancouver is one of the markets covered by the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver. In April 2022, sales in areas under the jurisdiction of the REBGV fell to 3,232 homes compared to 4,344 in March, for a 25.6 percent decrease.

In addition to Vancouver, the REBGV covers Burnaby, Coquitlam, Maple Ridge, New Westminster, North Vancouver, Pitt Meadows, Port Coquitlam, Port Moody, Richmond, South Delta, Squamish, Sunshine Coast, West Vancouver, and Whistler.

In April this year, the Vancouver-based Dexter Realty stated in a report that the “super cycle” of the Metro Vancouver real estate market is coming to an end.

The realty company made the statement as it noted year-over-year declines in March 2022 sales.

Sales in April 2022 are no different.

The 3,232 homes that changed hands last April in REBGV markets mark a 34.1 percent decline from the 4,908 sales recorded in April 2021.

In a recent report on May 4, Dexter Realty stated in a report by partner and managing broker Kevin Skipworth that the April numbers confirmed that the “residential super cycle is over in Metro Vancouver”.

“As befitting a housing market that has defied all traditions since March 2020, the current calming is happening in midst of what, conventionally, is the most active selling season of the year,” Skipworth wrote. g

A sign of the times? This home at 4315 St. Catherines Street in East Vancouver has a 2022 assessment of $1,762,600. On May 3, it was sold for slighly less than that, $1,732,000.

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