About BCREA’s Housing Monitor Dashboard

The BCREA Economics team has created the Housing Monitor Dashboard to help REALTORS^® monitor BC’s housing market. This dashboard, which is updated monthly, provides up-to-date data on key variables for public education and use. Focuses include: 

• Resale Home Market

• Construction

• Rental Market

• Borrowing Costs

• Other BCREA Data

In the dashboard, the image and data are available for download under each chart, where possible.

For more information, please contact: Gino Pezzani.

An increase in newly listed properties is providing more choice to home buyers across Metro Vancouver in October, but sales remain below long-term averages.

Learn more at www.rebgv.org

For more information, please contact: Gino Pezzani.

Canadian prices, as measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI), rose 3.1 per cent on a year-over-year basis in October, down from 3.8 per cent in September. Excluding gasoline, CPI rose 3.6 per cent year-over-year in October. Shelter costs continue to be the main driver of inflation, with mortgage interest costs up 30.5 per cent and rent up 8.2 per cent. Grocery price inflation continued to moderate, albeit slowly and still elevated at 5.4 per cent year-over-year. Month over month, seasonally adjusted CPI fell 0.1 per cent, largely as a result of falling gasoline prices. In BC, consumer prices rose 2.7 per cent year-over-year. The Bank of Canada's preferred measures of core inflation showed significant downward momentum for the first time in months, falling to around 3.5 per cent year-over-year after trending near 4 per cent since the spring. 

While the main contributor to lower inflation this month was falling gas prices, there were other strong signs of progress on inflation that should please the Bank of Canada.  The three-month trend in core inflation measures fell to between 2.7 and 3.1 per cent and inflation excluding mortgage interest costs fell to just 2.2 per cent. Those trends, along with slowing GDP growth and early signs of a weakening labour market, should keep the Bank of Canada sidelined in December and looking to lower rates in 2024. 

Link: https://mailchi.mp/bcrea/canadian-inflation-october-2023-november-21-2023

For more information, please contact: Gino Pezzani.

Canadian housing starts rose 1 per cent to 274,681 units in October at a seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR). Starts were up 4 per cent from the same month last year. Single-detached housing starts rose 5 per cent from last month to 59,911 units, while multi-family and others rose 1 per cent to 214,768 units (SAAR). 

In British Columbia, starts jumped 50 per cent from last month to 60,174 units SAAR in all areas of the province. In areas in the province with 10,000 or more residents, single-detached starts were unchanged from last month at 5,588 units while multi-family starts surged 65 per cent to 51,813 units. Starts in the province were 33 per cent above the levels from October 2022. Starts increased from last month by 9k units in Vancouver, 6.2k in Victoria, 2.9k in Kelowna, and 2.2k in Abbotsford. The 6-month moving average trend in BC fell by 0.3 per cent to 50,887 SAAR. 

Link: https://mailchi.mp/bcrea/canadian-housing-starts-october-2023

For more information, please contact: Gino Pezzani.

For the complete news release, including detailed statistics, click here.

Vancouver, BC – November, 2023. The British Columbia Real Estate Association (BCREA) reports that a total of 5,373 residential unit sales were recorded in Multiple Listing Service^® (MLS^®) systems in October 2023, an increase of 1.8 per cent from October 2022. The average MLS^® residential price in BC was $968,786 up 4.1 per cent compared to October 2022. The total sales dollar volume was $5.2 billion, representing a 6 per cent increase from the same time last year. 

“Home sales have slowed as expected given high borrowing costs and a punishing stress test,” said BCREA Chief Economist Brendon Ogmundson. “However, the inventory of homes for sale remains quite low, despite a modest uptick in new listings. Consequently, markets have found balance, though at a very low level of activity.”

On a seasonally adjusted basis, active listings in the province have increased for the fifth consecutive month, but still remain low by historical standards and fall short of what is typically required for a sustainable market balance in the long term.

Year-to-date BC residential sales dollar volume was down 13.6 per cent to $63.1 billion, compared with the same period in 2022. Residential unit sales were down 105 per cent to 64,936 units, while the average MLS^® residential price was down 3.4 per cent to $971,802. 

For more information, please contact: Gino Pezzani.

Vancouver, B.C. – September, 2023 – Year-over-year declines in sales and dollar volumeshighlighted a qu ieter second quarter (Q2) of 2023 in the Lower Mainland's commercial real estate market.

There were 280 commercial real estate sales in the Lower Mainland in Q2 2023, a 56.5 per cent decrease from the 644 sales recorded in Q2 2022, according to data from Commercial Edge, a commercial real estate system operated by the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV).

The total dollar value of commercial real estate sales in the Lower Mainland was $1.763 billion in Q2 2023, a 54 per cent decrease from $3.831 billion in Q2 2022.

"Real estate transactions across the Lower Mainland have been affected by some of the highest borrowing costs we've seen in over 10 years," Andrew Lis, REBGV’s Director of Economics and Data Analytics, said. "With the landscape for monetary policy looking set where it is for at least the near-term, it's likely we'll see the commercial real estate market continue along this trajectory for the rest of 2023."

Q2 2023 activity by category

Land: There were 83 commercial land sales in Q2 2023, which is a 62.6 per cent decrease from the 222 land sales in Q2 2022. The dollar value of land sales was $789 million in Q2 2023, a 57.6 per cent decrease from $1.863 billion in Q2 2022.

Office and Retail: There were 112 office and retail sales in the Lower Mainland in Q2 2023, which is down 51.3 per cent from the 230 sales in Q2 2022. The dollar value of office and retail sales was $281 million in Q2 2023, a 63.4 per cent decrease from $767 million in Q2 2022.

Industrial: There were 66 industrial land sales in the Lower Mainland in Q2 2023, which is a 59 per cent decrease from the 161 sales in Q2 2022. The dollar value of industrial sales was $428 million in Q2 2023, a 32.4 per cent decrease from $633 million in Q2 2022.

Multi-Family: There were 19 multi-family land sales in the Lower Mainland in Q2 2023, which is down 38.7 per cent from 31 sales in Q2 2022. The dollar value of multi-family sales was $266 million in Q2 2023, a 53.2 per cent decrease from $568 million in Q2 2022.

For more information, please contact: Gino Pezzani.

Canadian employment rose by 17,500 (0.1 per cent) in October. The Canadian unemployment rate jumped to 5.7 per cent, following three consecutive months at 5.5 per cent. Average hourly wages rose 4.8 per cent year-over-year to $34.08 in October, while total hours worked were up 2.1 per cent from October of last year.

Employment in BC dipped 0.1 per cent to 2.81 million, while employment in Metro Vancouver fell 0.3 per cent to 1.61 million. The unemployment rate was unchanged in both areas at 5.4 per cent in BC and 5.8 per cent in Metro Vancouver. 

Link: https://mailchi.mp/bcrea/canadian-employment-october-2023-november-3rd-2023

For more information, please contact: Gino Pezzani.