Dear Stuart,
In May, the sales activity for detached homes on the Westside remained below the long-term average while the listing activity was slightly below the long term average.
Compared to the 10-year average, the supply of detached homes is down by 1%, while apartments are up 46%, and townhomes are up 53%.
Similarly, demand, when compared to the 10-year averages, are down by 21% for detached homes, apartments are down 17%, while townhomes are down by 20%.
In May, the westside Detached Home median price is down 16% from the peak in August 2023. The Apartment median price is down by 4.4% from the peak in April 2022, and the Attached Home median price is down by 10.7% from the peak in June 2023.
The Bank of Canada has dropped the rates by a quarter point which will save a borrower about 150 dollars per month on a 1 million dollar mortgage but more importantly is seen as a move to encourage buyers, spending and to stimulate the economy.
The market has been expecting higher inventory levels since the BoC started raising rates and that along with zoning encouraging higher density has resulted in a steady rise in supply of apartments and attached properties while detached supply has gone down.
Some of this shift is a result of the change of use from single family to apartment and multi family developments but it has been bolstered by taxation that discourages ownership of real property over $3M in value. So single family homeowners are being encouraged to sell their homes into duplex & multi family developments which while they will be smaller, will supposedly be sold for more affordable prices.
Demand has also responded to the higher rates by falling in all categories but the surprise has been how steady prices have remained in the face of increasing rates, increasing supply and decreasing demand. Another other positive takeaway has been how relatively few homeowners have been forced to sell in the face of the high borrowing costs.
This rate cut and others if they come later this year should encourage demand but we are also further into the mortgage renewal cycle and many mortgage holders have yet to hit their renewal dates under the higher ratesβ¦.
Happy Father's Day! ππ
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Best regards
Stuart
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