September is already here, which means families are scrambling to send their kids back to school or first time to school and people are back to work from their summer vacations. Life is back to normal, traffic on the streets are bumper to bumper again and daylight is getting shorter everyday. In all that what is the Vancouver Real Estate marketing doing? Media loves to over-react and talk about the falling sales compared to last month and emphasize the drop of 20% or more in sales. Is this true or better yet what does that really mean?
Let us remember that the Real Estate market during Spring and Summer of 2016 in Greater Vancouver was a time that no one has ever experienced. Even Realtor's who have been in the business for over 40 years have never experienced a market we just went through. Product was selling off the shelf in less than 7 days and majority of the offer were "NO SUBJECTS", which is not something we should all get used to. So then what's happening now?
Right now we are seeing product sell 25-40 days, except detached luxury homes are taking much longer, which is still a very hot market compared to a balanced market which will take approximately 120-160 days for a product to sell. We are definitely seeing less multiple offers, more offers with subject and some selling slightly under listing price with some room for negotiations. However, if you are priced sharp and the home show's well then we are still seeing multiple offers and product selling over ask. This is more for condo's, townhouses and entry level detached homes. On the other hand, it's a different story for higher-end luxury homes where we are noticing a drop in activity. The foreign tax probably had a big impact but at the same time there are some buyer fatigue since not everyone can afford $3 Million dollar homes.
When the media announces that sales are down 20% or more we need to remember that it's an accumulation of all the homes, from condo's to multi-million dollar houses. So compared to our record breaking summer months, yes sales are down but when we break it down to condo's, townhouses, and detached homes and even narrowing it down to specific area's the numbers are much different. The total number of inventory in Greater Vancouver is still very low and there are still a lot of buyer's looking for homes.
So with school back in order, people back to work and back into their routine the Fall market looks very promising. Historically, August and September tends to be a dip for the Greater Vancouver market as people are adjusting to their normal routine, oh and don't worry about the foreign tax. The total number of sales that involve foreigners is less than 10% and those foreigners, if they really want it, they will find a way to get it. We just need to realize that every detached home owner that's been living here for 25 year or more is now a millionaire and the baby-boomer generations are retiring. Which means their estate and assets are now going to be released to their children. The next 10-20 years is going to be interesting.
