Richmond BC Real Estate
Declining Market
Since April, 2008, home sales activities in Richmond dropped significantly. Home prices were trending down as there were more sellers than buyers in the market place.
Another housing market tracking and pricing charts presented by Brian Ripley showed that Edmonton's home prices peaked in May, 2007 and Calgary followed in June, 2007. Vancouver's top was recorded in June, 2008 and since then prices had been declining significantly for July, August and September.
The price correction will continue until demand picks up. This will happen when prices reach a level when home buyers are feeling comfortable to get back into the market.
Presently, Richmond inventory is still very high, with around 11 months supply of homes. Unless sales improve or the number of listings drop significantly, the list/sale ratio will take a while to reach a more balance market... around 6 months inventory.
Data from Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver
Market Update
Greater Vancouver housing sales were down 43.2% in September from a year earlier, while the average sale price dropped 8% to $535,598 over the last year.
Greg Klump, chief economist with CREA said "As the Canadian market continues to cool, houses will stay on the market longer. Canadian sellers are not under financial duress to sell so many will just pull their homes off the market if they don't get their price and that will result in a continuing decline in listings.
Canadian homebuyers should not expect to see the kind of price correction that's underway in the U.S. where overly indebted homeowners are selling into a housing market where foreclosures and the number of newly constructed unoccupied homes are increasing."
Click here to read the article.
What you should do in a buyer’s market?
If you are a seller, you have to be realistic with your expectation and adapt to the market. You need to know the sales and inventory in the market place. Before you list your home on the market, find out how many months an average home takes to sell, and monitor the market activities closely.
If there are 2,500 properties on the market and 250 are selling, only 10% of the properties are selling for the month. Your home has to be at the top 10 % in the marketplace in order for your home is sold. When there are 10-month inventory in the market, your home priced priced similar to other homes will take 10 months to sell.
So, to sell your home in a buyer’s market, it has to be priced right and marketed well. A well-priced home get sold more quickly. Click here to find out how I can help you sell your home in 30 days or less.
If you are a home buyer, you need to know whether the home you are buying is a good buy. This could be a good buying opportunity as there are more choices, sellers are more motivated to sell and home prices are more attractive now.
For more information on the real estate market in Greater Vancouver, and Richmond Vancouver and Burnaby in particular, you can follow my blog postings here.
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Thanks Krishna.