Vancouver West-Side Real Estate Statistics - Apartments
Updated May 2012
The following is a summary of stats released by the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver and compiled & graphed by Telf Maynard. Much of it is specific to apartments on the Westside of Vancouver. If you are interested in statistics and graphs for west-side detached houses, please click here.
The Housing Price Index (HPI) Benchmark Price is a price calculated by the Real Estate Board, and designed to reflect the value of an "average" apartment. You can read more about the HPI here.
This graph shows the HPI Benchmark price for an apartment on the West-Side of Vancouver.
While the HPI Benchmark is, to some extent, "made up" by the Real Estate Board, the Median Average reflects actual numbers. The reason I show the median rather than a "regular" average is because it doesn't skew as much if property is only selling at the high or low end of the market.
Here you can compare it to the HPI.
These numbers only show how prices have changed in the past. In order to predict the near future, we need to to look at a few other numbers.
The easiest way to predict future real estate values and sales volume is based on supply and demand. As long as people still want to live in Vancouver, and our population is rising faster than new homes are being built, prices HAVE to go up in the long term. Prices can only ever go down when supply exceeds demand for an extended period of time (which is what happened during the recession, when people simply stopped buying).
Here is a graph showing new supply (new listings) and demand (sales).
The "new listings" count, however, only shows what new supply became available, it does not take into account what was already there.
Here is a graph showing the total number of properties actively listed for sale (as of the last day of each month), and the number of properties that sold during that month:
Peaks and valleys in the graph can be scary looking, but are quite normal. The real estate market is quite seasonal and follows a regular pattern, as you can tell from this graph:
Here's the same graph, but for sales volume:
Taking into account, again, that real estate sales are seasonal, here are the year-over-year comparison graphs for the total listings count:
You can take the supply (active listings) and demand (sales volume) and do some simple math to come up with a number for "months of inventory". For example, if there are 20 properties currently for sale, and 10 sold last month, then that calculates to 2 months of inventory. The number is a snapshot that allows you to predict how "hot" the market is going to be in the coming months. The lower the number, the "hotter" the sellers market -- where prices tend to rise, sales volume is high, and multiple-offers on apartments are commonplace. If this number gets high (as it did during the recession) then you end up with a buyer's market, and sales volume and prices tend to drop off.
Somewhere around 5 months is generally considered a "balance market".
Here is a graph showing the months-of-inventory number for properties on Vancouver's West Side:
But with this graph in particular, it is easier to determine what's going on by looking at the same thing year-over-year. Here is exactly the same graph, laid out differently:
I do hope that all of these graphs were useful to you. I update them every month as soon as the updated statistics are released, during the first week of each month. If you have any other ideas for number/graphs you want to see, please let me know!
And remember, whether you're interested in buying or selling a house or condo on the west side, please give me a call!
I will leave you now with the one graph that I didn't create, and that doesn't mean much to me, working on the west-side, but that everyone loves to oogle. If you're buying or selling on the west-side, it's not particularly relevant to you, either. But it is fun to look at, and to remember why they say Real Estate is the best investment out there.
Here's the graph of average (mean not median) prices for houses in the entire Greater Vancouver area.
Note: You are welcome to use these graphs for any purpose you like, as long as you give me credit for creating them! I'd love to know how you're using them, so please let me know. Thanks! telf@telf.ca
The statistics used in these graphs are based on information provided by the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver, and, while believed to be accurate, Telf Maynard, Dexter Associates Realty, and the REBGV assume no responsibility for them.
