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It’s not all doom and gloom for the Metro Vancouver housing market.

A new study from REW.ca suggests there is one seller’s market — and several just shy of that status — in the region.

“In the current slowing real estate market, it’s easy to read the headlines and imagine that sales are plummeting all over the region and it’s becoming a buyer’s market. But that’s not necessarily true of all areas – or all property types,” reads an article from the Vancouver Courier, a sister website of REW.ca.

Since peaking in May 2018 when the benchmark home price reached $1,104,600, the Greater Vancouver housing market, which covers a similar geographic area to Metro Vancouver, has undergone a correction.

One year later, the benchmark price has tumbled 8.9 percent to $1,006,400, according to the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver.

But the performance of the broader Vancouver market is the sum of developments in many neighbourhoods.

So to take a deeper look into the market, REW.ca examined the sales-to-active listings ratios of 19 neighbourhoods in Metro Vancouver.

The ratio of sales to actively listed homes is a general barometer of market balance.

A ratio over 20 percent suggests a seller’s market, while anywhere between 12 and 20 percent generally means balanced conditions and below 12 percent is a buyer’s market.

Clayton was the only sub-market to surpass the 20-percent threshold in May. There, the sales-to-active listing ratio was 22 percent.

However, four neighbourhoods clocked in right at 20 percent: Central Meadows, Fraser East, Citadel and Mount Pleasant East.

And another pair were only two percentage points shy of the market: Murrayville and Hastings. The other 12 sat in balanced territory at 17 percent.

REW.ca also took into account that market conditions can vary by housing type. What’s a seller’s market for condos may not be one for townhouses, for example.

With a ratio of 21 percent, Garibaldi Heights was the sole market that was in seller’s territory for detached homes, though Aldergrove was just a percentage point shy of the designation.

Meantime, sellers of townhomes had the upper hand in six markets, and condo sellers had an edge in five neighbourhoods.

The infographic below shows REW.ca’s complete findings:

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