Vancouver area on track to see home prices stabilize amid higher borrowing costs: real estate board

The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver says higher borrowing costs combined with seasonal patterns are putting the housing market on track for slowing sales and price stabilization.

The board's outlook is being informed by August sales, which totalled 2,296, 13.8 per cent below the 10-year seasonal average.

Compared with a year earlier, August sales jumped more than 21 per cent.

There were 3,943 new listings last month, a roughly 18 per cent increase from a year earlier, but new listings remained 5.3 per cent below the 10-year seasonal average.

The composite benchmark price for the Vancouver area hit $1,208,400, a 2.5 per cent increase from August 2022 and a less than one per cent decrease from July.

Composite benchmark prices are considered to be a typical sale price for homes in similar areas, whereas average home prices are the total dollar sales divided by the total amount of sales.

The board's director of economics and data analytics says the numbers are proof that the Vancouver area's housing market bucked many pundits' predictions of a major slowdown, but the market is tempering.

"It's a bit of a tortoise and hare story this year, with sales starting the year slowly while prices increased due to low inventory levels," Andrew Lis said in a news release on Tuesday.

"As fall approaches, sales have caught up with the price gains, but both metrics are now slowing to a pace that is more in-line with historical seasonal patterns, and with what one might expect given that borrowing costs are where they are."

The areas and municipalities covered by the REBGV are Bowen Island, Burnaby, Coquitlam, Maple Ridge, New Westminster, North Vancouver, Pitt Meadows, Port Coquitlam, Port Moody, Richmond, South Delta, Squamish, the Sunshine Coast, Vancouver, West Vancouver and Whistler.