Vancouver home sales took a tumble in August to become “more historically normal” levels of activity.
Greater Vancouver Real Estate Board reported sales of 2,489 homes in the month, down 26 per cent from a year earlier and down 22.8 per cent from July 2016.
“The record-breaking sales we saw earlier this year were replaced by more historically normal activity throughout July and August,” Dan Morrison, REBGV president said. "Sales have been trending downward in Metro Vancouver for a few months. The new foreign buyer tax appears to have added to this trend by reducing foreign buyer activity and causing some uncertainty amongst local home buyers and sellers.”
While some may be keen to point to the new 15 per cent tax for foreign buyers of the city’s homes, Morrison is not committing to that opinion: “It’ll take some months before we can really understand the impact of the new tax. We'll be interested to see the government's next round of foreign buyer data," he said.
While sales may be down, prices continued to rise with the benchmark at $933,100, up 31.4 per cent year-over-year. Average sales prices are trending lower as sales of higher-priced detached homes have eased.
Greater Vancouver Real Estate Board reported sales of 2,489 homes in the month, down 26 per cent from a year earlier and down 22.8 per cent from July 2016.
“The record-breaking sales we saw earlier this year were replaced by more historically normal activity throughout July and August,” Dan Morrison, REBGV president said. "Sales have been trending downward in Metro Vancouver for a few months. The new foreign buyer tax appears to have added to this trend by reducing foreign buyer activity and causing some uncertainty amongst local home buyers and sellers.”
While some may be keen to point to the new 15 per cent tax for foreign buyers of the city’s homes, Morrison is not committing to that opinion: “It’ll take some months before we can really understand the impact of the new tax. We'll be interested to see the government's next round of foreign buyer data," he said.
While sales may be down, prices continued to rise with the benchmark at $933,100, up 31.4 per cent year-over-year. Average sales prices are trending lower as sales of higher-priced detached homes have eased.
