B.C.’s housing market is showing signs of marginal improvement
BC’s housing market saw a slight improvement in March as home sales nudged higher following a . -per-cent decline in February. Sales increased . per cent to reach , unit sales. Home prices rose . per cent. This said, housing momentum has waned in the last few months as buyer sentiment shifted amid interest rate uncertainty.
MLS home sales increased in most of the province’s real estate board areas. The Greater Vancouver area saw home sales increase by . per cent following a decline in the previous month. In Chilliwack, home sales increased only slightly—by just . per cent—while the Kootenays reported a .-per-cent increase. Home sales also rose . per cent on Vancouver Island, and were unchanged in the Fraser Valley. However, the Okanagan-Mainline and South Okanagan areas recorded sales declines of . per cent and per cent, respectively.
Home values in B.C. increased in March to reach an average of $ , . Prices have fluctuated since mid-, and are now . per cent below a historical peak in February and . per cent below the high.
The month-to-month gain from February to March was the result of higher prices in the Greater Vancouver region, where home values increased by . per cent—making up for a decline in February of . per cent. In both the South Okanagan and Okanagan-Mainline, home prices increased by . per cent and . per cent, respectively. The Fraser Valley also saw prices increase by . per cent while the Kootenays noted an -per-cent monthly increase. In Chilliwack, the average price rose by . per cent. In contrast, home values in Kamloops receded by . per cent while those on Vancouver Island declined by . per cent.
There was a drop in new residential listings in B.C. during March, following two consecutive monthly increases. During the month, new listings decreased by . per cent—a sign of sellers awaiting better market conditions. Meanwhile, B.C.’s sales-to-new-listings ratio increased to . per cent from . per cent, moving closer to a balanced market. Sales activity is expected to remain subdued into the late spring months. The possibility of rate cuts in the second half of the year might fuel stronger market activity.
On the construction front, building permits in B.C. continued to climb in February, increasing by . per cent following a .-per-cent surge in January. The February increase was driven by residential and non-residential sectors, with construction intentions up by . per cent and . per cent, respectively. Year over year, total permit values soared by . per cent. While the -month moving average shows a down trend in permit issuances that has been ongoing since late , the recent increase could point to a shift in activity.
The value of residential permits increased to $. billion. Single-dwelling residential permits increased by . per cent and multi-family building permits rose by . per cent.
Non-residential permit values advanced to $. million. Industrial permit values soared, up by more than times their value in January, largely due to a permit issued for a new dairy processing facility in Abbotsford-Mission. Commercial permits rose by . per cent; government permits fell by . per cent.