In March we said goodbye to 35-year amortizations, and with concurrently rising interest rates the entry-level buyer pool has now basically dried up through April.
This means that Sellers wishing to move up will have more and more difficulty with so few new buyers in the market. So if you are selling and you want to see an offer, make sure you are very sharply priced and have the property move-in condition ready.
Starting the month of May the inventory of MLS listings for the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver has eased up to over 14,700, and over 8,100 for the Fraser Valley Real Estate Board.
Looking closer at the Tri-cities we have 1,784 listings (as at May 1, 2011).
Coquitlam has 977 listings, 505 being attached multi-family.
Port Coquitlam has 413 total listings, 269 of which are attached multi-family.
Port Moody has 394 active listings, 249 being attached multi-family.
I haven’t seen any figures for new homes available for sale yet, but if this continues to increase the total supply then we could quickly end up back in a buyers market.
There are of course always individual local pockets or segments where the demand is exceptional like we’ve been seeing in Richmond and the Westside, so general information based on macro reporting should not be relied upon and will need to be verified.
Remember that I always have time to help you, or your friends and family, with any questions about our local market.