Sellers Pull Their Homes Off The Market In Droves, Competition Eases Through December

Jan. 8, 2009 - PRLog -- In a direct November to December comparison, the North Vancouver, West Vancouver and Vancouver West real estate markets give some interesting insights.  The most obvious is the level of competition across three sectors, through Vancouver West and the North Shore declined due to a mass market exodus, seasonal trends and .

In North Vancouver, there were 337 detached houses for sale through the end of the month, while the number at the end of December has declined by 24.7%to 254.  Many of the homes that came off the market had reduced their prices.  Only 117 detached houses for December had price reductions compared to November’s total of 175.

There was a 255% increase in detached expired listings in the area over November.  Attached expiries nearly doubled and apartment expired listings increased by 33%.  There were a total of 163 expired listings in North Vancouver through December, up from 84 in November

North Vancouver sales were down slightly in December in all categories.  Detached sales went from 31 sales to 26, attached sales went from 14 to 9 and apartment sales went from 34 sales to 10.

West Vancouver detached listings, price reductions and expired listing counts remained virtually the same.  However, sales across all three categories (detached, attached and apartment listings) fell.  Detached sales went from 21 in November to 9 for December, attached sales dropped from 3 to zero and apartment sales went from 8 to 0 over the same period.

Vancouver West had a major decline in listings. For November to December listings, detached homes declined from 705 to 609 for a 13.6% drop, attached went from 364 to 297 for a 18.5% decline and apartment listings went from 2027 to 1624 for a 19.9% decline.  Total listing inventory dropped by 566 to 2,530.

In total, 36.5% or 924 listings have lowered their asking prices.  

The number of detached listings expiring in December nearly tripled from November.  There were 79 expired detached listings in November, 232 in December.  Attached expired listings went from 30 to 35 while apartments expired listings went from 172 to 213 respectively.

Vancouver West side sales declined for the most part.  Detached homes were the only increase going from 34 in November to 36 in December.  Attached homes went from 22 to 15 and apartments felt the greatest negative impact going from 144 sales to 66 sales, a 54.2% decline.

Overall, the market has done what everyone would expect this time of year.  It slowed like it usually does over the holiday season.  On the bright side, this slow has inspired many of the ‘less serious’ home sellers to pull their properties from the market.  This is good news for everyone looking at listing their homes soon.  The news is good for buyers too as it makes finding well priced homes that much easier.

Kevin Lynch
http://www.kevinlynchrealestate.com

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Vancouver's top real estate news resource for buyers, seller, media and press, realtors and investors. Kevin Lynch is Vancouver's premier real estate agent helping people realize their home ownership and real estate investment dreams.