The British Columbia Real
Estate Association (BCREA) reports that a total of 4,244 residential sales were
recorded by the Multiple Listing Service® (MLS®) in January, up 24.5 per cent
from January 2013. Total sales dollar volume was $2.4 billion, an increase of
36.8 per cent compared to a year ago. The average MLS® residential price in the
province rose to $565,036, up 9.9 per cent from the same period last year.
"Residential sales
activity in the province posted the strongest January since 2010,” said Cameron
Muir, BCREA Chief Economist. “Consumer demand has recovered from last year’s
lower levels and is now trending at the long-term average.” The ten-year average
for January is 4,276 unit sales.
"Stronger economic conditions are expected to underpin a
modest uptick in home sales later this year,” added Muir.
The demise of the federal Immigrant Investor Program is
expected to have little impact on the Metro Vancouver housing market. “The only
impact we foresee is less pressure on the inventory of detached homes in
Vancouver’s West Side, Richmond and West Vancouver,” said Muir.
The number of investor immigrant landings peaked at 5,876 in
2008 before declining to just 2,644 in 2012, with a similar number expected for
2013. These numbers include spouses and dependents. The total number of added
households is estimated to be between 900 and 1,000 per year since 2011.
Courtsey of BCREA
