Uptick in Vancouver home sales last month caps ‘pivot year’ for market: board

VANCOUVER — Greater Vancouver home sales rose 31.2 per cent on a year-over-year basis in December, capping a “pivot year” for the market where the number of homes that changed hands in the region ticked higher.

Greater Vancouver Realtors says the 1,765 home sales last month were still 14.9 per cent below the 10-year seasonal average for December.

It says there were 1,676 newly listed properties, up 26.3 per cent from December 2023.

The composite benchmark price was $1,171,500, up 0.5 per cent from a year earlier and 0.1 per cent below November’s level.

Overall, home sales throughout 2024 rose 1.2 per cent from the previous year, but the 26,561 total transactions were still 20.9 per cent below the 10-year annual sales average.

The board’s director of economics and data analytics Andrew Lis says that with borrowing costs on the decline, buyers have “started to show up in numbers after somewhat of a hiatus,” which is reflected in recent monthly data.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 3, 2025.

The Canadian Press