Vancouver Condo Market Crashing?

I thought my readers might appreciate an update on what’s happening in Canada’s second biggest condo market: Vancouver.

Thanks to my friend Mike Stewart for this video update on the Vancouver condo market. Mike is a Realtor who specializes in Vancouver condos and homes. You can find Mike online at mikestewart.ca or follow him on Twitter @mike_stewart.

3 questions with Mike Stewart

1) We hear in Toronto that condo prices have fallen significantly in Vancouver this year. What’s the resale condo market in Vancouver really like right now?

The Vancouver Resale Condo market (and overall market) is quite soft right now, but prices have not really fallen in any significant manner. The largest declines are in single family houses that saw the largest increases in price when we saw large influx of monied Mainland Chinese Buyers.

What we are really seeing is a slowdown in market activity for Vancouver Condos caused by buyers holding off on buying and waiting rather than a lack of qualified. This has a lot to do with negative news and questionable predictions on the Vancouver Real Estate Market in the media. After all, bad news sells newspapers! To learn more, have a look at my page on Vancouver Real Estate Statistics which is updated consistently with stats, graphs, and charts.

2) How about the presale market in Vancouver? Which developments are doing well and which ones are not?

The presale market has also slowed, but different parts of the presale market are getting affected in different ways. Price point and perceived flexibility on price has a major impact on how busy sales are. Entry level, investor class presales that are priced aggressively and are open to negotiation on price or are offering incentives tend to be the presales that are moving the most product in Vancouver. Buyers are looking for value and are not moving on condos that have premium pricing. If you’re looking for pre-construction investments in Vancouver, have a look at this great Map of Vancouver Presale Condos

3) What do you see happening in the next 6 months in the Vancouver condo market?

I’m (as always) cautiously optimistic. Rates are at all time lows in Canada for a number reasons and there is little evidence that they will be going up anytime soon. There are buyers out there for Condos in Vancouver, but many are waiting to see what will happen in the market before they make a move. The Asia Pacific Region, particularly China has a big economic influence on Vancouver and the present issues China is having relates to Europe’s debt issues. Should Europe gets its debt situation in order, China and the surrounding region could benefit. This could result in Mainland Chinese and other Asian buyers coming back into the market which could push prices up. But at the end of the day, this is pure conjecture and it’s really any body’s guess.