Snowy weather helps cool down home sales in Vancouver area

VANCOUVER — Home sales across the Vancouver area were down dramatically in February compared with last year’s recordbreaking pace, while prices across the region remained more stable.

The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver says a limited supply of listings and an unusually snowy start to the year affected the market.

It says residential sales totalled 2,425 in February, an almost 42-per-cent plunge from February 2016. But sales in February were up about 59 per cent from January.

The board says the number of properties that changed hands was 7.7 per cent below the 10-year sales average for February.

There were 3,666 new listings in February, a nearly 37-per-cent drop from the same month last year and an 11-per-cent decrease from January.

The board says this is the lowest number of new listings registered in February since 2003.

“If you go to the store and there’s no bread on the shelf, you don’t buy it,” said board president Dan Morrison. “The inventory is so low that there’s just not enough product to meet the buyers’ demand.”

Morrison said for months people have taken a “wait and see” approach to the market.”

The Fraser Valley Real Estate Board, which covers the growing cities of Surrey, White Rock and Langley, says the market returned to more typical levels in February after a record-breaking 2016.