Written by Fifth Avenue Real Estate Marketing Ltd.
In a preliminary excerpt from a report by Fifth Avenue Real Estate Marketing Limited, a residential project marketing and sales agency with 38 years of experience, readers can discover what was selling, where and why in 2017 and the trends that are driving a quick sales start to 2018.
In this market intelligence report entitled the Fifth Dimension asserts that the most recent quarter of activity in Metro Vancouver’s new multifamily home market continued to be robust. An overall total of 4,276 new multifamily home sales were reported in this quarter. The overwhelming majority of these purchases are not recorded on MLS. Predominant purchasers this quarter were both end users taking advantage of pre ‘stress-test’ interest rates and investor buyers seeking pre-sale condominium product. This figure was up four percent from last quarter and was similar to the same quarter last year.
As for supply, or the lack thereof, these were only 1,476 released and unsold new multifamily units in Metro Vancouver available one month ago. This figure is down 19 percent compared to last quarter last year and down 26 percent compared to the same quarter last year. Furthermore, there were only 80 completed and unsold new multifamily homes available to purchase at year end. These levels continue to be all-time lows. Clearly, buyers have to buy pre-sale if they desire a new home.
Condominiums and townhomes were a big part of the overall real estate market story in 2017. These product types increasingly captured greater buyer interest and are becoming more mainstream with respect to consumers wants and needs. That being said, with this growing demand and limited supply this past year these products experienced rapid appreciation and notably in markets that had not seen a meaningful increase for some time such as North Delta, Surrey City Centre and the Township of Langley.
While prices may not escalate this year at the rate they did last year limited supply does create the possibility of further increases and appears to be driving a fast start to 2018 especially compared to the cool start to 2017.
To download a copy of The Fifth Dimension report released on February 8, 2018, click here.
