VANCOUVER, B.C. – October 2, 2009 – Greater Vancouver home sales remained strong last month, with the second highest number of residential sales ever recorded for the month of September.
The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV) reports that residential property sales in Greater Vancouver totalled 3,559 in September 2009, an increase of 3.4 percent from the 3,441 sales recorded in August 2009, and an increase of 124.5 percent compared to September 2008 when 1,585 sales were recorded.
“As homes sales in Greater Vancouver continued at an elevated pace in September it’s encouraging to see that more homes were listed on the MLS® in the month than any other so far this year,” Scott Russell, REBGV president said.
New listings for detached, attached and apartment properties in Greater Vancouver totalled 5,764 in September 2009. This represents a 6.2 percent decline compared to September 2008 when 6,142 new units were listed, but a 26.8 percent increase compared to August 2009 when 4,544 properties were listed on the Multiple Listing Service® (MLS®) in Greater Vancouver.
At 12,596, the total number of property listings on the MLS® increased 5.5 percent in September compared to last month and declined 36 percent from the 19,852 homes listed for sale during the buyer’s market that was experienced at this time last year.
“During this period of renewed demand in our marketplace, home values have gradually recovered from the declines that occurred in 2008,” said Russell.
Since the beginning of the year, the MLSLink® Housing Price Index (HPI) benchmark price for all residential properties in Greater Vancouver has increased 13 percent to $547,092 from $484,211, while home prices compared to Septembers 2008 levels are up 1.6 percent.
Sales of detached properties increased 160.6 percent to 1,423 from the 546 detached sales recorded during the same period in 2008. The benchmark price, as calculated by the MLSLink Housing Price Index®, for detached properties increased 2.1 percent from September 2008 to $741,632.
Sales of apartment properties in September 2009 increased 94.9 percent to 1,489, compared to 764 sales in September 2008. The benchmark price of an apartment property increased 1.5 percent from September 2008 to $374,686.