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The number of homes for sale in Vancouver is inching up due to below-average sales activity, one of the few silver linings in a market that continued to operate at a sluggish level in February.
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According to the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV) monthly report released on March 2, February sales stood 33 per cent below the 10-year average with a total of 1,808 residential properties sold in the region — a 47.2 per cent decrease from the 3,424 sales in February 2022, but up 76.9 per cent from the 1,022 homes sold in January.
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Listings on Metro Vancouver’s MLS system, meanwhile, ticked up to 3,467 homes, up 5.2 per cent from the 3,297 listings in January 2023 but a decrease of 36.6 per cent from the 5,471 listings in February 2022.
“It’s hard to sell what you don’t have, and with new listing activity remaining among the lowest in recent history, sales are struggling to hit typical levels for this point in the year,” REBGV’s director of economics and data analytics, Andrew Lis , said in the report. “On the plus side for prospective buyers, the below-average sales activity is allowing inventory to accumulate, which is keeping market conditions from straying too deeply into sellers’ market territory, particularly in the more affordably priced segments.”