Continuing the trend that has emerged in the housing market this year, the benchmark price for all home types in Metro Vancouver increased in June as home buyer demand butted up against a limited inventory of homes for sale in the region.The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV) reports that residential home sales in the region totalled 2,988 in June 2023, a 21.1 per cent increase from the 2,467 sales recorded in June 2022. This was 8.6 per cent below the 10-year seasonal average (3,269).

“The market continues to outperform expectations across all segments, but the apartment segment showed the most relative strength in June,” Andrew Lis, REBGV’s director of economics and data analytics said. “The benchmark price of apartment homes is almost cresting the peak reached in 2022, while sales of apartments are now above the region’s ten-year seasonal average. This uniquely positions the apartment segment relative to the attached and detached segments where sales remained below the ten-year seasonal averages.”

“Despite elevated borrowing costs, there continues to be too little resale inventory available relative to the pool of buyers in Metro Vancouver. This is the fundamental reason we continue to see prices increase month over month across all segments,” Lis said. “With the benchmark price for apartments now standing at $767,000, we repeat our call to the provincial government to adjust the $525,000 threshold exempting first-time home buyers from the Property Transfer Tax to better reflect the price of entry-level homes in our region. This is a simple policy adjustment that could help more first-time buyers afford a home right now.”