Crystal balls are at a premium and hard to locate as we enter a new year after a traditionally quiet real estate Christmas. Local inventories slid away and buyers played the waiting game hoping for interest rates to adjust in their favour this year. As reported by the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver: “Ultimately, the story of 2023 is one of too few homes available relative to the pool of willing and qualified buyers.” (Andrew Lis – Director of Economics & Data Analytics).
The story for 2024 will most likely be about interest rates, currently the highest in over a decade. It’s amazing how many properties did sell under these circumstances! A drop in interest rates would enable more young buyers to purchase, while the current trend of parents assisting their family to buy will continue – but to what extent. At the other end of the scale, it will be more difficult for downsizers to sell their single family homes without a drop in interest rates – lower rates would encourage upsizers to jump in.
How did we fare locally in December? From Burnaby moving east as far as, and including, Maple Ridge, there were two common denominators. Every market, both single family and attached, had a huge drop in inventory and the most popular housing was in the attached market – condos and townhomes. The strongest detached market was in Coquitlam with 2 in 10 homes selling with the most popular neighbourhood being Burke Mountain. The strongest attached markets by a long shot were in Pitt Meadows where 5.3 in 10 homes sold and in Port Coquitlam with a selling rate of 4.4 in 10. Obviously the eastern markets in our region have the advantage of lower prices and in the case of Port Coquitlam, additional infrastructure, new builds and a rejuvenated downtown.
Supplemental Report – Greater Vancouver
So….where from here? No one has the answer to that question, but what we have always known is that the real estate market can change shockingly quickly. Therefore it makes perfect sense to be prepared in every sense of the word so that you’re ready to jump in when the time is right. If you are contemplating selling your home, find out how you can best position it in the market and what will be the advantageous improvements to sell at a good price in a reasonable amount of time. Then you can ‘strike while the iron is hot’. We are your ready, willing and able resource in this necessary exercise and we’re happy to advise you while knowing that you are preparing for the future – however far away.
For buyers to be prepared, it will take a meeting with your mortgage expert to know what the interest rates need to be to enable a purchase and how to position yourselves so that you too can benefit from lower interest rates. When a market changes is not the time to start the process – begin now so that you are ready for whatever may happen.
Our team wishes you all a healthy, happy New Year and we stand ready to assist in whatever 2024 brings.
We remain the Generations Real Estate Partners –
Michelle Hawthorne, Scott Johnson, Shane Goutsis, Ray Harris and Sheila Francis.