Q4 2019 - Real Estate Market Analysis

Faith Wilson Group’s exclusive and comprehensive Market Analyses for Q4 of 2019 have arrived.

Our team does the research and produces reports for 8 Lower Mainland areas (inclusive of 170 + neighbourhoods) + the Vancouver Condo Report. Providing the market’s pricing for each type of home within its neighbourhood, and the market activity within its price range.

Vancouver Westside Highlights:

While the benchmark price of a Westside house declined 6.7% in Q4 compared to Q4 2018, Kitisilano detached house prices increased 6.6% from a year ago, to $2.31 million. It may be the SkyTrain affect. The longawaited Broadway Corridor extension will likely have the biggest impact in Kitsilano as developers buy residential land in preparation for higher density. Rental investors are also converting detached houses into badlyneeded student housing. These buyers are eying potential multi-unit houses that sell for $2.5 million or less. The first phase of the SkyTrain extensions runs to Arbutus and Broadway, but will eventually link to the University of B.C. campus.

Vancouver Eastside Highlights:

In November the Eastside posted higher detached house sales than any other major Metro Vancouver market, including the Westside.Eastside sales nearly doubled in November from the same month a year earlier, rising 96.4% to 108 houses. This is the highest November transactions since the peak sales year of 2015 and there is another telling data point. During the 2015 peak the sales-to-new-listing ratio for Eastside detached houses was 94%, which is very close to the 92% sales success ratio achieved this November, when 117 new listings were added. What is different this year is the benchmark detached house price on the Eastside was $1.37 million compared to $1.2 million in the same month four years ago. Those who bought during the boom years have continued to enjoy price appreciation, despite the last two years of a policy-induced downturn.

Vancouver Condos Highlights:

Vancouver condominium sales ended 2019 up 11.3% from 2018, posting 5,274 sales in the 12 months, including 1,288 transactions in the fourth quarter (Q4), which was a stunning 64.5% higher than in the same period a year earlier. Yes, it is safe to say that the brief slowdown in Vancouver’s condo sales pace is over. It was a strange year for the condo market, however, which started slow – sales in the second half were lagging about 20% behind 2018 – and then roared into autumn and winter, setting up a full steam of momentum as we head into 2020.