Greater Vancouver is on track to see more than 4,100 new construction condo apartments launch sales by the end of Q1-2022, significantly more than what was reported during the same business quarter last year.
Jasmine Cracknell-Young, vice president of advisory for Canada at Zonda Urban, told Livabl that approximately 4,143 new condo units and 23 projects are projected to launch this quarter in Greater Vancouver. So far, there have been 15 project launches with 2,832 units in Q1-2022. By the end of the month, rounding off the first quarter of 2022, there could be an additional eight development launches, bringing to market another 1,311 new condos.
By comparison, 14 new home launches with 2,358 units took place in Q1-2021 across the region, a bit over half of the developments that are expected to have kicked off by the end of Q1-2022.
As developers bring new product online, it appears that this quarter is looking to build off of “the banner Q4-2021,” that Vancouver experienced, Cracknell-Young explained.
“Many developers are launching now because of the incredible momentum in the market,” she said. “Across the country, we continue to see red-hot housing markets as demand continues to outstrip supply.”
Vancouver suburbs see surge of activity in Q1-2022
Demand for new homes in Greater Vancouver has been extremely strong, Cracknell-Young says.
New home projects in the region have been selling 60 per cent to 100 per cent of units within a month. Overall absorptions for new concrete condominiums is currently 173.3 units per month, while wood frame projects are averaging 51 condos a month. Compared to last year, concrete developments were selling at an average rate of 18.2 units a month and 8.5 suites per month for wood frame developments back in Q1-2021.
When it comes to launch activity, Cracknell-Young explains that Vancouver’s downtown core has been fairly quiet in regards to new launches. Most of the project launches this quarter have been taking place south of the Fraser in areas like the Cambie Corridor, which is “still very hot.”
The bulk of the action has been found in Vancouver’s suburban areas. Communities such as Langley, Burnaby and Surrey have been active thanks to transit initiatives, the ongoing build-out of master-planned communities and lower price points relative to more inner-city neighbourhoods.
Heading into Q2-2022 and the remainder of the year, Cracknell-Young says that she is “cautiously optimistic,” of what’s to come.
“I believe that demand in the market will remain strong, but that could be tempered by any number of outside factors like the conflict in Ukraine, oil prices or rising interest rates,” she said.
In a quarterly Metro Vancouver Multi-Family Take published earlier this month, Zonda Urban stated that there were 26,291 new home sales in all of 2021, a number that shatters the previous annual total sales record set in 2016 by 30 per cent. Inflation pressures on construction labour and materials, in addition to higher costs for regulations and code requirements, are expected to place more pressure on prices in 2022, the report said.
