Real estate sales are slumping in Metro Vancouver’s red hot real estate market for the second straight month, statistics released this morning confirm.
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The real estate board said that while Vancouver sales have been trending downward for “a few months”, the new tax appears to be causing a decline in foreign buyer activity and causing uncertainty in the local market.
New numbers released by the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV) show residential property sales totalled 2,489 in August 2016, a decline of 26 per cent compared to the 3,362 sales in August 2015.
The REBGV data covered the first month in which the B.C. government’s new 15 percent tax on foreign buyers was in effect.
Industry observers had predicted a slowdown in transactions after the introduction of a new 15-per-cent tax on foreign buyers that took effect on August 2 for purchases registered with the province’s land title office.
“What we have discovered is about a three per cent drop in Richmond and Vancouver Westside, a three per cent price drop since June, so nothing insane but we are seeing a ton of price reductions, so it will be interesting to see what happens next with prices”.
The number of new listings has been on the rise since February, although the market has remained tight because of strong sales activity.
Sales of apartment properties hit 1,343 in August, a 10.1 per cent decline compared to the 1,494 in August 2015.
In Greater Vancouver, which covers a large portion of Metro Vancouver, the benchmark price of detached houses, condos and town homes reached a record $933,100, up 31.4 per cent from a year earlier and an increase of 0.3 per cent from July.
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The benchmark price of an apartment property increased 26.9 per cent from August past year to $514,300, representing a 6.1 per cent increase over the last three months.
