A total of 25,032 single-family detached homes, condos and townhouses sold in 2012, down from 32,387 sales in 2011. Last year’s home sale total was 25.7 per cent below the ten-year average for annual MLS sales in the region, REBGV said.
“For much of 2012 we saw a collective hesitation on the part of buyers and sellers in the Greater Vancouver housing market,” stated REBGV president Eugen Klein in a news release. “This behavior was reflected in lower than average home sale activity and modest fluctuations in home prices.”
Since reaching a peak in May of $625,100, the MLS Home Price Index, a benchmark of a typical home price, was down 5.8 per cent in December to $590,800 – a 2.3 per cent decline compared to the same month in 2011.
“We saw home prices come down a bit during the latter half of the year. During the same period, we saw fewer home sales and listings,” Klein said.
There were 1,142 home sales in Greater Vancouver in December, a decrease of 31.1 per cent from December 2011, while there were 1,380 new listings in December, down 15.3 per cent from the previous year.
On Wednesday, the B.C. Assessment Authority sent out 2013 property assessments showing values dropping in certain Metro Vancouver markets for the first time in years.
For all the latest numbers from REBGV, click here .
