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Vancouver Real Estate News

Home buyers and sellers in Vancouver’s housing market might have noticed a continuing pattern this September: prices are up while sales are down. This is the same pattern as seen over the summer months this year, after a particularly strong spring brought Vancouver housing prices up to sky-high levels. Sales have largely faded away, while high prices are here to stay.

The benchmark home price in Vancouver was $1,186,100 for September 2021, up 13.8% year-over-year from September 2020. This is also a 0.8% increase in average home prices compared to last month. All home types saw a slight increase in prices compared to last month, but condo apartments saw a slight decrease in monthly sales. Sales for condo apartments are still up 2% year-over-year despite this small monthly decrease. Overall, sales in Vancouver were almost unchanged from last month, with three fewer sales in September compared to August. This puts Vancouver behind the record-breaking pace of sales seen last fall, where 3,643 homes were sold in September 2020. Vancouver's 3,149 home sales this September 2021 meant that there was a 13.6% decline in home sales year-over-year.

Benchmark prices of detached homes have increased the most in the past year with a 21% year-over-year gain and have inched upwards the past month to $1,828,200. Townhouses have also surged 19% over the past year to $963,800. Condo apartment benchmark prices lagged behind with a 8.4% increase year-over-year to $738,600. These price trends, where condo prices are lagging behind detached home prices, are similar to those in Toronto's housing market where condo prices have risen by only 12% in a year compared to 29% for detached homes.

One tailwind for Vancouver's housing market is the recent update of the CMHC's First-Time Home Buyer Incentive. Home buyers in Vancouver, Victoria, and Toronto can now qualify for a 5% or 10% down payment incentive paid by the Federal government with a household income of up to $150,000 (previously $120,000) and a total borrowed amount of up to 4.5x (previously 4x) their household income. This can potentially create increased direct demand for homes up to $722K in the Vancouver area.

In addition, the CMHC has recently decreased their standards for insured mortgages. This reverses the increase from last year and drops required credit scores from 680 to 600 and increases GDS and TDS ratio limits to 39% and 44% from 35% and 42%, respectively.

However, the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI) and the Ministry of Finance have recently raised the benchmark mortgage stress test rate for both insured and uninsured borrowers from 4.79% to 5.25%, limiting affordability for marginal buyers.

Mortgage rates have risen from their 2020 lows but have remained stable for the past few months. However, the prospect of tighter monetary policy from the Bank of Canada as early as mid-2022 could lead to increased rates and limit home affordability in Vancouver.

Vancouver Commission Structure

Real estate commissions are the fees that home sellers pay to the seller and buyer real estate agents for their services. In Vancouver, the total commission rate is structured as 7% for the first $100,000 of a home’s sale price and 2.5% on the remaining balance. Seller agents usually get half or 50% of this total commission with buyer agents getting the other half. To calculate your real estate commission for Vancouver, see our calculator below. For other cities in B.C., please visit our BC real estate commission calculator page for more information.

Sold Price

$

Location

Vancouver

Fraser Valley

Victoria

Kelowna

You will pay around...

$25,72526k

7%

on first $100k

2.5%

on remainder

Buying Agent Commission

$11,26311k

Selling Agent Commission

$13,23813k

5% GST

$1,2251.23k

The seller of the property will pay for both buying and selling agents' commission. For example, if the seller agent commission is 2.5% and the buyer agent commission is 2.5%, you will pay a total commission of 5%.

Vancouver Real Estate Tools for Buyers and Sellers