Now is the best time to sell your Metro Vancouver condominium because prices will not rise much, if at all, for the next two years.
That’s the sobering assessment of housing analysts in Western Investor’s annual report on residential investing. More restrictive mortgage regulations, lower demand, an increase in new condo construction and a spike in resale listings all point to a flat market ahead.
Experts say buying an investment property in secondary markets, such as Kamloops, the Kelowna area or the Kootenays – or even Edmonton –, all of which are posting increases in housing sales, may now be a safer bet.
Metro Vancouver average housing prices have plunged 22 per cent from the peak seen last spring. July resales were at a 10-year low for that month. And, while prices for Metro rental apartment buildings have soared to record highs, capitalization rates have plunged to record lows.
“Its tougher to make a buck in housing these days,” said one Vancouver realtor, who has adjusting the price down on a West 17th Avenue duplex – to just under the average house price in the area of $2.2 million.
“The Lower Mainland is in a buyers’ market,” conclude economists with BC Central 1 Credit Union, “suggesting flat or declining price levels.”
Central 1 forecasts that the “peak to trough” decline in prices will only be about 5 per cent. But no one really knows exactly where or how deep the trough is.
“For those hoping to sell their condo in the next 12 months, the outlook is not good. The bad news is that there will be fewer buyers in the market. The good news is that prices are holding for now in most markets. If you have to sell, sell now,” exhorts a summer report on condominium sales from Vancouver market analyst Strategics.
For the full report on residential investing, see the September issue of Western Investor.
