Photo: The Canadian Press
Vancouver’s real estate market ended 2020 with a bang, as a December home-buying spree helped the market rebound from a weak 2019, despite the COVID-19 pandemic.
Home sales jumped 53.4% in the final month of 2020 compared with December 2019, the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver said on Tuesday. The board said 3,093 homes were sold in December, up from 2,016 in December 2019 and slightly more than the 3,064 homes sold in November.
The board said the composite home price in Vancouver ended the year at $1,047,400, up 5.4% from the same time last year.
Board chair Colette Gerber said the COVID-19 pandemic brought the housing market to a “near standstill” in March, but demand for housing returned through summer, fall and winter, intensified by low interest rates.
“Robust December sales outpaced long-term averages in what’s traditionally the quietest month of the year in real estate,” Gerber said in a statement. “This was part of an unusual seasonal pattern the market followed last year, which can be attributed in large part to the pandemic.”
Gerber also pointed to the pandemic’s affect on “shifting housing needs,” as more buyers have searched for standalone homes outside downtown amid more widespread stay-at-home and work-from-home mandates during the pandemic.
Sales of detached homes led the December gains, rising 71.3% from December 2019 to 1,026. Apartment sales were up 40% from last December, totalling 1,474. Real estate agents sold 593 attached homes, such as townhomes, in December, up 62.9% from December 2019.
Composite home prices were up 10.2% year-over-year to $1,554,600 for detached homes, 2.6% year-over-year to $676,500 for apartments, and 4.9% year-over-year to $813,900 for townhomes, the board said.
Across the metro area, Bowen Island, the Sunshine Coast, and Tsawwassen saw the biggest one-month jump in composite home prices in December.
Despite December home sales that were 57.7% above the 10-year average, 2020 as a whole was below Vancouver’s 10-year average, after starting the year in recovery from a slump.
All BC Biz Stories
