Residential sales in the Vancouver metro market totaled 2,733 in May, a 19.9% decline from the 3,411 sales recorded one year earlier.
According to data from Greater Vancouver Realtors, last month’s sales total was also 19.6% below the 10-year seasonal average for May of 3,398 sales.
While sales were down, buyer choices were up. There were 6,374 detached, attached and apartment properties newly listed for sale on the MLS in Metro Vancouver in last month, up by 12.6% compared to the 5,661 properties listed in May 2023 and a 7% increase compared to the 10-year seasonal average of 5,958 properties.
The total number of properties currently listed for sale on the MLS system in Metro Vancouver is 13,600, a 46.3% increase compared to May 2023’s 9,293 properties and a 19.9% spike from the 10-year seasonal average of 11,344.
The MLS Home Price Index composite benchmark price for all residential properties in Metro Vancouver is currently $1.21 million, up 2.3% from the previous year and a 0.5% uptick from the previous month.
“The surprise in the May data is that sales have come in softer than what we’d typically expect to see at this point in the year, while the number of newly listed homes for sale is carrying some of the momentum seen in the April data,” said Andrew Lis, the realtor group’s director of economics and data analytics. “It’s a natural inclination to chalk these trends up to one factor or another, but what we’re seeing is a culmination of factors influencing buyer and seller decisions in the market right now. It’s everything from higher borrowing costs, to worries about the economy, to policy interventions imposed by various levels of government.”
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