Housing Markets Flat in 2019 After Strong Second Half

January 14, 2020

, , , ,

The British Columbia Real Estate Association (BCREA) reports that a total of 77,331 residential unit sales were recorded by the Multiple Listing Service® (MLS®) in 2019, a decline of 1.5 percent from the 78,516 units sold in 2018. The annual average MLS® residential price in BC was $700,460, a decline of 1.6 percent from $711,564 recorded the previous year. Total sales dollar volume was $54.2 billion, a 3 percent decline from 2018.

“Housing markets across the province staged a strong recovery in the second half of 2019,” said BCREA Chief Economist Brendon Ogmundson. “This sets up 2020 to be a much more typical year than what markets have experienced recently.”

A total of 5,218 MLS® residential unit sales were recorded across the province in December, up 48.9 percent from December 2018. The average MLS® residential price in BC was $755,165, an increase of 8.7 percent from December 2018. Total sales dollar volume was $3.9 billion, a 61.8 percent increase year-over-year.

Total active residential listings were down 10.6 percent to 24,691 units in December. The total inventory of homes for sale has declined more than 10 percent on a year-over-year basis for two straight months.

Copyright BCREA reprinted with permission