Home sales appear to be moving in the right direction after a painful April that saw activity in the Vancouver region reach a 38-year low for the market.
There were 686 homes sold as of May’s midway point, compared to 564 homes sold during the same period in April, a 22 percent month-over-month increase. The MLS data, published by Vancouver broker Kevin Skipworth, will likely be seen as a positive step toward a market recovery.
While the data is encouraging, the home sales total up to May 15th remains a far cry from where activity stood last year. From a year-over-year perspective, home sales were down 40 percent from May 2019’s mid-month total.
The scale of the economic damage that’s been inflicted on the Vancouver region is even more apparent when accounting for the fact that 2019 was already considered a weak year for the housing market.
New listings were also down on an annual basis during the first half of May, sinking 42 percent from 3,181 to 1,851, according to data published by Skipworth, the managing broker at Dexter Realty. However, when compared to April figures from the same period, new listings shot up 68 percent, a potential sign that sellers are feeling more comfortable listing their homes as the worst effects of the pandemic are abating.
The rise in sales and listings aligns with commentary from the Canadian Real Estate Association, who noted earlier in the month that preliminary May data indicated a similar trend was playing out in markets across the country after the abysmal activity levels seen in April.
Skipworth sees further improvement ahead as May progresses and the province moves forward with its reopening initiative.
“May will show improvement overall in the real estate market as we carry through, with the total number of sales in the second half of the month being higher than the first half. While it will be down from May last year in terms of sales volume and new listings, so far prices have remained stable,” Skipworth wrote in an email accompanying the mid-month data.
“Debate will continue as to the effects of the economy on real estate prices going forward, but perhaps we need to temper the debate with getting through Phase 2 of the provincial plan for reopening the economy and phasing out restrictions. As we saw in March, a lot can happen in a span of a few weeks. We just might be surprised at what positive outcomes can happen,” he continued.
