HOUSING House prices keep dropping F
PCharlie Smith
rices of single-family homes in Vancouver show no signs of recovering after a free fall during the past year. The November statistics from the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver show that detachedhome prices in Point Grey were down 17.9 percent from the same month in 2017. This was based on seven sales.
There was only one sale of a single-family home in Quilchena last month, and it sold for 16 percent less than the average sale price in that neighbourhood in November 2017.
Both these areas are heavily affected by the NDP government’s property surtax on homes valued at more than $3 million.
Other factors affecting home prices include tighter mortgage rules, rising interest rates, and a hike in the foreign-buyers’ tax from 15 percent to 20 percent in the most recent provincial budget.
In South Granville, single-familyhome prices were off by 15.5 percent; in the Arbutus area, they were down 12.3 percent; and the price was off by 12.1 percent in Oakridge.
Detached-home prices were also down in every East Side neighbourhood, including South Vancouver (–10.8 percent), Knight Street (–8.3 percent), Main Street (–8 percent), Collingwood (–7.9 percent), and Fraser Street (–6.2 percent).
According to the Better Dwelling website, these price drops are the largest since the Great Recession, which followed the global economic meltdown in 2008. The REBGV’S benchmark for the West Side was down 10.3 percent on an annual basis, whereas on the East Side, prices of single-family homes were off by 6.5 percent.
OF THE WEEK
AFFORDABILITY is a word not often associated with housing in Vancouver. It’s tough to live in a city where the rental vacancy is below one percent.
A housing fact sheet released by city hall last year indicated
This has coincided with an almost 25-percent increase in listings on an annual basis for detached homes in the region.
B.C. Assessment said earlier this month that homeowners can expect decreases in assessments of five to 10 percent over the past year for their single-family homes in Vancouver, South Surrey, White Rock, South Delta, Richmond, and the North Shore.
In other areas—notably the Fraser Valley, Vancouver Island, the Okanagan, and the North—assessments for single-family homes could increase from five to 15 percent.
Meanwhile, condo prices rose on a yearly basis by 6.8 percent in Marpole, 5.7 percent in South Cambie, and 3.5 percent in Oakridge. that 18,445 renters—or seven percent of all households—in 2010 were spending at least 50 percent of family income on shelter costs.
Short of crossing Boundary Road, there are ways to make things work. A forum organized by the Vancouver Public Library aims to provide tips on finding rental and affordable housing options in the city, like social housing and residential co-ops.
The event will be held in partnership with the South Vancouver Neighbourhood House at the Champlain Heights library branch (7110 Kerr Street) on Saturday (December 15), from 1 to 2:30 p.m.
However, sale prices of condos fell by 10.5 percent downtown, 4.5 percent in Southlands, 3.3 percent in Kitsilano, and 2.4 percent in Yaletown compared to November 2017.
East Side condo prices ranged from an 11.5-percent increase on an annual basis in Killarney to a 2.7-percent decline in the Grandview and Hastings East areas.
All B.C. homeowners will receive their annual property-assessment notices in early January.
“When properties similar to your property are sold around July 1, those sales prices are used to calculate your assessed value,” assessor Tina Ireland said on B.C. Assessment’s website. “Our job is to make sure your assessment is fair and accurate as compared to your neighbours.”
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