Home prices remain resilient in the face of rising interest rates
Rising interest rates do not appear to be putting a damper on housing prices in Metro Vancouver.
According to the most recent sales statistics from the Greater Vancouver Real Estate Board, the benchmark price for a detached home hit $2,015,500 in August, a close to 10% jump in the last six months. The benchmark price for townhouses is now $1,103,900, a 5% increase in the last six months, while apartments rose 1.2% to a benchmark price of $770,000.
“It’s been an interesting spring and summer market to say the least,” said Andrew Lis, REBGV’s director of economics and data analytics. “Borrowing costs are fluctuating around the highest levels we’ve seen in over ten years, yet Metro Vancouver’s housing market bucked many pundits’ predictions of a major slowdown.”
Instead, the region has posted relatively strong sales numbers and has seen year-to-date price gains of more than 8% on average, Lis added.
Sales totaled 2,296 in August, a 21.4% increase from the 1,892 recorded in the same month last year, while the sales-to-active-listing ratio reached 23.9%.
Still, the data shows that price gains are starting to slow, according to Lis.
“It’s a bit of a tortoise and hare story this year, with sales starting the year slowly while prices increased due to low inventory levels,” he said. “As fall approaches, sales have caught up with the price gains, but both metrics are now slowing to a pace that is more in-line with historical seasonal patterns, and with what one might expect given that borrowing costs are where they are.”
On Wednesday, the Bank of Canada announced it would hold its target for the overnight rate at 5%.
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