Greater Vancouver real estate sales rose in February

The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver says home sales in February were both up and down.

Sales were up from the previous month, but still down compared with the same period last year.

In February, 1,480 homes were sold in Greater Vancouver, compared with 762 in January, an increase of 94 per cent.

The board president Dave Watt notes January sales have been lower than February for a decade, but still attributes the February increase to pent-up demand.

"We know statistically there are a lot of people on the fence. The mortgage lenders and the major chartered banks will all agree, all five of them, that they have a large number of pre-approved buyers," he said.

"A lack of confidence has kept them sitting on the fence, and it seems a lot of them want to move forward," Watts said.

Year-over-year numbers still down

But while February was an improvement over January, last month's sales were down by more than 40 per cent compared to February 2008.

The benchmark price for a detached properties, as calculated by the board, also declined 14.2 per cent from February 2008 to $653,452.

And as prices fell, so did the number of properties on the market. New listings decreased 25.6 per cent in February compared to the previous year, the board said.

Watt said that's likely due to homeowners keeping properties off the market fearing they won't be able to get what they think the properties are worth.

"There are terrific opportunities out there right now, but with property listings continuing to decrease, those opportunities may be available only for a brief window of time," he said.