Vancouver, BC – August, 2020. The British Columbia Real Estate Association (BCREA) reports that a total of 10,090 residential unit sales were recorded by the Multiple Listing Service® (MLS®) in July 2020, an increase of 26.6 per cent from July 2019. The average MLS® residential price in BC was $770,810, a 12.9 per cent increase from $682,702 recorded the previous year. Total sales dollar volume in July was $7.8 billion, a 43 per cent increase over 2019.

“The strong recovery in sales activity continued in July,” said BCREA Chief Economist Brendon Ogmundson. “Increased demand for more living space combined with an undersupplied market is producing significant upward pressure on home prices, particularly in the market for single-family homes.”

Active listings remain down significantly year-over-year, creating upward pressure on prices, though increased demand for single-family homes has somewhat skewed average prices in some markets.

Year-to-date, BC residential sales dollar volume was up 8.4 per cent to $32.5 billion, compared with the same period in 2019. Residential unit sales were down 1.4 per cent to 43,718 units, while the average MLS® residential price was up 10 per cent to $754,842.

For more information, please contact: Gino Pezzani.

Shelter in place orders meant most of us couldn’t get to the grocery store on a regular basis. Predictably, that created a boom in online grocery sales, according to the Supermarket News website. In 2019, online grocery shopping grew by 22%.

The Coresight Research U.S. Online Grocery Survey 2020 polled 1,152 consumers; 52% said they had purchased groceries online in the past 12 months. That’s the first time more than half of consumers had done so, and more than double the number from two years ago.

Do you feel like you’re not really making any progress on your goals as our world recovers from the pandemic?

Try this: Write a letter to yourself. In the letter, envision what you would like to accomplish in one year’s time. Let your mind create the situation as if it has already happened. Make sure you write about where you are in relation to the dreams you have for yourself.

Seal the letter, and give it to someone you trust completely. Ask that person to mail the letter back to you after at least a month has gone by. Many people who try this exercise find that they are actually making steady progress toward their goals.

Canadian housing starts increased by 16% m/m to 245,604 units in July at a seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR), which was well above pre-COVID levels . This brought up the national housing starts six month average to 204,376 units SAAR. Housing starts were up across the country with notable growth in the Prairies and Atlantic Canada.

In BC, housing starts was up 9% m/m to 42,381 units SAAR in July, following an increase of 38,840 in June. The increase was primarily driven by the multi-unit segment. Housing starts in July are back at pre-COVID levels. That being said, housing starts in the province showed resilience during the height of the pandemic when restrictions were the tightest. In the near term, we can expect housing activity to continue to be supported by pent-up demand and historically low borrowing rates. Compared to the same time last year, housing starts are down by 16%. Meanwhile, the value of residential building permits for June was up by 20% in the province.

Looking at census metropolitan areas in BC:

Housing starts in Vancouver were up by 4% m/m in July to 24,395 units SAAR. Multi-units were up by 5%, while singles were down by 4%. Compared to last year in July, housing starts were down by 23%, which marks the fourth consecutive month of negative year-over-year growth.

In Victoria, housing starts were up by 77% m/m to 4,161 units SAAR. Compared to a year ago in July, housing starts were up by 14%.

In Kelowna, housing starts increased by 21% m/m to 3,457 unit SAAR. Starts were up by 138% in the region compared to the same time last year.

Monthly housing starts in Abbotsford-Mission were down by 18% at 479 units SAAR. Compared to the same time last year, new home construction was down by 84%.

For more information, please contact: Gino Pezzani.

Canadian employment grew by 419,000 jobs in July (2.4%, m/m). Combined with gains in May of 290,000 and gains in June of 953,000, this brought national employment to within 1.3 million of the pre-COVID February level. The national unemployment rate fell by 1.4 percentage points to 10.9 per cent from the previous month. Most of the employment gains in July were in part-time work. Compared to the same month last year, Canadian employment was down by 6.3% (-1.2 million).

Regionally, all provinces reported an increase in employment except New Brunswick, where employment was little changed. The strongest gains were in Ontario which were almost all in part-time work, reflecting the later easing of COVID-related measures compared with other provinces. In July, employment continued to rise faster among women than men, but on a cumulative basis, men are closer to being back at pre-COVID levels than women.

To address gaps in the understanding of the impact of the pandemic on certain visible communities, Statistics Canada has enhanced their employment survey. Of note, Statistics Canada found that compared to the same time last year, South Asians and Chinese Canadians experienced the highest increases in unemployment related to the pandemic, in part attributable to their greater concentration in some of the industries hardest hit by COVID-19 restrictions. Meanwhile, unemployment rates were lower for Black Canadians and Filipino Canadians, where many work in health care and social assistance industries.

Employment in BC grew by 70,000 jobs (3%, m/m) in July, reaching almost 94% of the February employment level. This followed job gains of 118,100 in June and 43,000 in May. July's employment gain brought down the unemployment rate by 1.9 percentage points to 11 per cent. In Vancouver, employment increased by 48,000 jobs to reach almost 90% of the February level. Compared to one year ago, employment in BC was down by 7.5% (-192,000) jobs.

This was another good news report. However, gains in July were lower than in June, reflecting reopening measures that began in June where employment growth was coming back from very low levels. We can expect that recovery will be slower from here on, as many of the hardest hit industries have reopened and will continue to maintain physical distancing measures. Also important are consumers' demand for goods and services, which is expected to be hampered by the still 165,000 unemployed individuals in BC since February, and the winding down of government support programs.

For more information, please contact: Gino Pezzani.

August has some pretty amazing holidays dedicated to animals all over the world. Here are a few worth celebrating, internationally and here at home.

International Assistance Dog Week, August 2 - 8.

International Assistance Dog Week (IADW) was created to recognize all the devoted, hardworking  assistance dogs helping individuals mitigate their disability related limitations. According to the IADW website, International Assistance Dog Week was established due to the efforts of Marcie Davis,
a paraplegic for over 35 years and the author of Working Like Dogs: The Service Dog Guidebook.

International Homeless Animals Day, August 15.

Every year on the third Saturday in August, International Homeless Animals Day
celebrates taking care of our pets and spreading awareness of pet overpopulation.
Consider volunteering or helping to sponsor a spay and neuter clinic, adopt-a-thon or
microchip clinics in your neighborhood.

World Elephant Day, Wednesday August 12.

Launched in 2012 to bring attention to the urgent plight of Asian and African elephants, World Elephant Day asks you to help conserve and protect elephants from the numerous threats they face. WorldElephantDay.com has some great information on
supporting better protection for wild elephants, improving enforcement policies to prevent the illegal poaching and trade of ivory, conserving elephant habitats, better treatment for captive elephants and, when appropriate, reintroducing captive
elephants into natural, protected sanctuaries.

Canadian real GDP grew 4.5  per cent on a monthly basis in May. May's increase follows an 11.6 per cent contraction in April, the largest monthly decline in GDP since the series started to be recorded in 1961. Despite the rise in GDP in May the Canadian economy is still 15 per cent below its February, pre-COVID-19 level. Statistics Canada's preliminary estimate for second quarter GDP is a decline of 12 per cent from the first quarter, or an annualized decline of close to 50%.

With an increase in GDP in May and a preliminary estimate of 5 per cent growth in June, it would appear that the Canadian economy is recovering from the COVID-19 induced recession. That recovery is already well underway in BC housing markets, with home sales recovering pre-COVID-19 levels in early summer.

For more information, please contact: Gino Pezzani.

August is Cataract Awareness Month, and that’s a good time for everyone to get acquainted with the dangers that a cataract can pose. A cataract is a clouding of the lens in the eye. Because the lens focuses light onto your retina, any blockage or distortion can result in diminished eyesight.

Cataracts develop gradually and usually (but not always) in older people. Congenital defects, inflammation, exposure to certain kinds of radiation, diabetes, and smoking can also contribute to cataract formation earlier in a person’s life.

The standard treatment is surgery to dissolve the clouded lens and then remove the fragments from the eye; doctors then insert an artificial lens to replace the old one. Because cataracts develop slowly and without pain, symptoms may not be obvious.

Check with your eye doctor if you start to notice these changes in your vision:

• Vision that’s cloudy, blurry or dim.
• More difficulty seeing at night.
• Heightened sensitivity to light.
• Seeing halos around lights.
• Colors seem faded, or yellowish.
• Double vision in one eye. Take care of those peepers!

Did you know?

Birds and reptiles have an extra membrane in their eyes that functions as a third eyelid. It’s called the plica semilunaris, and apparently humans have them too. It helps to drain tears and remove foreign objects from the eye.