Epain Homes

Who’s buying and why are they buying now???
For a while there i thought it was just me who was having one of the busiest months in the last few years. The news was still reporting increasing unemployment along with increased personal and commercial bankruptcy rates. However, as the month carried on, i realized it wasn’t just me- its everybody. My office is buzzing with activity, my friends downtown office is the same and a realtor that I refer business to on Gibsons said he expereincing more activity now than in the past year. I was also talking to a mortgage broker colleague of mine the other day and he informed me that in his industry many of them are working 12-14 hour days to keep up with the increased market activity. Below is a sample of some current rates being offered:

Fixed Rate Mortgages:

1 Year…………. 2.90%
2 Year…………. 3.05%
3 Year…………. 3.15%
4 Year…………. 3.79%
5 year…………..3.75%
7 Year…………. 5.15%
10 Year……….. 5.25%

For a $300,000 mortgage with five year fixed term at %3.75 your monthly payment would be $1536 for a 25 year amortization or $1278 for a 35 year amortization.

In my opinion this current market bounce is being driven by first time buyers attracted into the market by low rates and the opportunity to look at properties at a much slower pace than years past. This in turn has had the trickle up effect on the market. Sellers of condos are buying townhouses, sellers of townhouses buying detached homes and so on.

We’ve seen an almost across the board sweep for the bulls for April:

MOI -24% (MOM) This one caught me off guard. Just over 5 months of inventory. All those expired and cancelled listings never came back on in force. When/if that does happen and listing counts start to rise again…look out.

SALES +30% (MOM) . First time buyers getting those %3.79 rates are the driving force behind this one.

AVERAGE PRICE SFH: $815,099( +6.8% mom) AVERAGE PRICE CONDO $397,404 (+4.9% mom). I think we learned that sometimes as the market can fall quickly that it can rise just as fast. I’m not saying this will continue but man did it happen fast.

Litmus test will be the summer for sure.

I will conitinue doing the daily, weekly and monthly stats for while longer. Im going on vacation for 8 days starting on monday so nothing for next week.

Thanks for all your support. I wish everybody well and have a great summer.
Cheers to all!!
Gavin

********************* Breaking News *******************

It’s comment moderation time people. Don’t worry, this is just to keep out UN2010. He is done.

Gavin and I are both online frequently so you will not have to wait for long to see your comments appear.

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Great news!!

I have worked out an agreement with the person I had hoped would continue on with the numbers.

We are working out the details, but most importantly, the website will live on.

I am very happy that we can continue on. The new site owner is a fantastic Realtor and most importantly honest and objective. I could not have left the site in better hands.

I will have more details and the identity of our new site manager / real estate expert very soon!

Together we should be able to improve the current site. I would appreciate your feedback on how to remain / become your first choice for market stats and real estate advice.

Rather than post a poll I figured I would post something new. So let’s see how long I can stretch out this simple question. Here I go…

The Vancouver real estate market entered a severe slowdown in 2008. After a lacklustre spring market we reached a point at which the slowing sales and mounting inventory combined to end price gains. Prices have fallen every month since April (Benchmark SFH) and the economy has gotten far weaker since the “correction” began.

All things come to an end. The bubble has burst, and we will recover. However with the economic weakness bearing down on us, this year does not look good. Interest rates are falling rapidly which is great news for our market. Unfortunately, I don’t think it’s enough. There are far too many storm clouds on the horizon, and we may have to weather an economic hurricane before we see a rainbow.

Real estate has proven itself a tremendous value for long term wealth creation but it’s not always the best time to buy.

How do you think this will play out? Will we get a dead cat bounce this spring? Will we flatline for a few years? We will rush to new price highs this spring? You tell me.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Month-over-month housing prices retreat from record highs

VANCOUVER, B.C. – Aug 5, 2008 – As property listings continue to outpace sales, Greater Vancouver housing prices have drawn back, the last two months, from the record highs experienced in early 2008.

Since May 2008, housing prices, as calculated by the MLSLink Housing Price Index®, across each residential category have declined. Detached properties in Greater Vancouver declined 2.3 per cent through June and July 2008, while attached were down 1 per cent and apartment properties 2 per cent over the same period.

The overall benchmark price for all residential properties in Greater Vancouver has declined 2.1 per cent since the end of May 2008, from $568,411 to $556,605 in July 2008.

“We’re seeing more price reductions in properties listed on the market, which is having a levelling impact on the housing price increases experienced at the end of last year and into the first quarter of 2008,” said Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV) president, Dave Watt. “There was a slight decline in the total active listings on the market in July compared to June, which is a welcomed departure from recent trends.”

Residential property sales in Greater Vancouver declined 43.9 per cent in July 2008 to 2,174 from the 3,873 sales recorded in July 2007.

New listings for detached, attached and apartment properties increased 24 per cent to 6,104 in July 2008 compared to July 2007, when 4,924 new units were listed.

Sales of detached properties in July 2008 declined 44.2 per cent to 827 from the 1,483 units sold during the same period in 20070. The benchmark price for detached properties is up 5.4 per cent from July 2007 to $753,165.

Sales of apartment properties declined 42.3 per cent last month to 966, compared to 1,674 sales in July 2007. The benchmark price of an apartment property increased 4.7 per cent from July 2007 to $381,687.

Attached property sales in July 2008 decreased 46.8 per cent to 381, compared with the 716 sales in July 2007. The benchmark price of an attached unit increased 5.7 per cent between July 2007 and 2008 to $473,953.