All Blog Entries by Ron Neal

Market Intelligence Report (April 2020)

The latest BCREA Market Intelligence Report: Is It Different This Time? Recessions and the BC Housing Market examines the impact of past recessions on the BC housing market and provides preliminary projections on how COVID-19 may impact provincial home sales and prices over the next 24 months. Click here to read the full report.

Summary Findings:

• The 2020 COVID-19 driven recession will be deep, though the duration may be shorter than past recessions.
   
• We expect that home sales will post an initial sharp decline as households and the real estate sector adhere to social distancing.
   
• As measures implemented to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 are gradually lifted, we expect that low-interest rates and

Pandemic Halts Sales Activity in March

British Columbia Real Estate Association (BCREA) reports that a total of 6,717 residential unit sales were recorded by the Multiple Listing Service® (MLS®) in March 2020, an increase of 17.2 percent from March 2019. The average MLS® residential price in BC was $789,548, a 15.1 percent increase from $685,892 recorded the previous year. Total sales dollar volume in March was $5.3 billion, a 35 percent increase over 2019.

“Provincial housing markets started the month very strong before the COVID-19 pandemic put a halt to activity,” said BCREA Chief Economist Brendon Ogmundson. “Activity will slow considerably in April as households and the real estate sector implement measures necessary to mitigate the

Canadian Employment (Mar) - April 9, 2020

Canadian employment plummeted in March, falling by 1.01 million jobs (-5.3%, m/m). The unemployment rate increased 2.2 percentage points from 5.6% to 7.8%, as government measures intended to limit the spread of COVID-19 led to the closure of non-essential businesses and travel restrictions. 

Job losses were unsurprisingly right across the country, with the largest declines in Ontario (-403k), Quebec (-264k), BC (-132k) and Alberta (-117k). The decline in employment was driven by the private sector (-830k), while the public sector reported a smaller decline of 145k and self-employed were down by 32k. The shock to the Canadian labour market resulting from physical distancing measures hit certain

Canadian Housing Starts (Mar) - April 8, 2020

Canadian housing starts decreased by 7.3% m/m in March to 195,174 units at a seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR). The decrease was broad-based with starts down in 7 of 10 provinces, signalling early signs of the impact of COVID-19 on construction activity. The trend in national housing starts to fell to a still healthy average of 205,000 units SAAR over the past six months. 

In BC, housing starts fell by 20% m/m to 34,014 units SAAR, following a 44% rise in the previous month. The decrease was entirely driven by multi-units (-25%), while singles increased (1%). Given the rapidly evolving circumstances brought on by COVID-19, Statistics Canada released early estimates of March building permits

Canadian Monthly Real GDP (January 2020) - March 31, 2020

The Canadian economy grew  0.1 percent on a monthly basis in January as weather and labour disputes offset more positive developments in some sectors.  Before the abrupt change in the world economy due to the COVID-19 outbreak, the Canadian economy was set to grow a solid 1.8 percent in the first quarter.  We may start to see the impact of COVID-19 starting with February's GDP data though the impact will mostly be observed in April, which is likely to show an unprecedented decline in economic activity.

Once the outbreak is contained, the Canadian economy should post a strong recovery due to pent-up demand, large amounts of fiscal stimulus and historically low-interest rates.

For

There were 5% fewer sales in the VREB (Victoria Real Estate Board) area this March compared to the same month last year (for a grand total of 608 sales). While the month started off as a typical spring market, with even higher sales volume compared to last year the inevitable effects of COVID and self-isolation were felt in the latter half of the month bringing the total sales number down. Condo sales specifically were down more with 178 unit sales, 9.2% down from March last year. On the other hand, there were 305 sales of single-family homes, only 5.3% down from March last year.

While many sellers that were already in the process of listing their home scrambled to put together the final materials, many other homeowners decided to wait it out

March 2020 managed to maintain normal levels of sales for the month in the Vancouver Island Real Estate board area despite COVID-19. With 333 single-family home sales in March, up 22.2% from the previous month and 7.5% up from March the previous year. Condo sales, on the other hand, were down 44% from March 2019, but townhomes were up 40% in the same period.

There were 1,181 active single family listings available at the end of March, up around half a percent from listings available March last year. The number of active condo listings was up 29% compared to last year bringing the number of listings to 400. The number of townhomes on the market dropped 18% with 147 active listings. Moving forward it is likely we will see a decrease in properties coming

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Are you okay? Can we help? We care.

We would like you to know that we take the COVID-19 issue very seriously. To this point, no Neal Estate Team staff have contracted or been in contact with the virus that we are aware of.

In light of all that is happening currently, we would like to reach out to our clients and let you know the precautions and procedures we have implemented to protect the health of our clients and staff. Of course, these steps and the limitations imposed are evolving hourly as new information becomes available.

We are conducting business remotely as much as possible:

1. Utilizing digital technology for signing.
2. Whenever possible staff is working remotely from home.
3. Using the

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Vancouver, BC – March 12, 2020.

The British Columbia Real Estate Association (BCREA) reports that a total of 5,741 residential unit sales were recorded by the Multiple Listing Service® (MLS®) in February 2020, an increase of 26.3 percent from February 2019. The average MLS® residential price in BC was $758,863, a 12 percent increase from $677,681 recorded the previous year. Total sales dollar volume in February was $4.4 billion, a 41.4 percent increase over 2019.

“Housing markets in BC continued to trend near long-term average levels in February,” said BCREA Chief Economist Brendon Ogmundson. “Recent declines in mortgage rates and favourable changes to mortgage qualifying rules may provide a boost to home sales heading into the spring, although