Nothing beats Summer in Greater Vancouver! It’s fun, festive, and the time of the year that our city truly shines. Spring 2022 was one of the wettest on record and we certainly deserve the hot temps and glorious sunshine we’ve been receiving. In fact, it looks like the PNE might even break its rainy jinx this year, and we can’t remember that EVER happening. But with just 2 weeks left in August, it’s now time to switch our focus back to school and back to work. It’s also an excellent time to look at what the Real Estate Market is up to and to make plans for a move.

After several extremely positive years of growth, our Summer market reacted in a fairly “typical” fashion by slowing down and balancing out. The biggest contributing factor to this slowdown was the rise of interest rates. We haven’t experienced changes like this in many years and it quickly stalled some market segments and brought normality to others. Home buyers suddenly had more options to choose from and more time to make decisions. We expect this trend to move into fall with a slight increase in supply and activity as people quit tanning and start house hunting.

According to the Google, the term “what goes up must come down” means things that rise must eventually return to the earth due to gravity. However, we’re not sure Vancouverites would agree that the real estate market follows the same rules. The last 10 years have seen the Housing Price Index rise a whopping 83% from $659,500 to $1,207,400. But, there have been little hiccups along the way.
 

The recent numbers show that we may be experiencing one of those hiccups right now. After all those massive pandemic gains, it was inevitable that the rules of gravity would eventually take effect. But, if we take the same graph and equalize it, we see that there has been a healthy 8% increase per year and these little dips offer can offer opportunities for investments and long-term growth.

It is next to impossible to time the ups and down of the market perfectly. However, if you are in the market for the long term, the numbers show that Vancouver real estate is a healthy investment and growth is inevitable. Also, it is important to look at the micro-markets within the general market. This is where Blu’s experienced and knowledgeable agents can help guide you. There are always opportunities out there.