Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver: March 2022 Statistics Update

At Oakwyn we’re always wanting to present the facts in an engaging way. Every month, one of our agents will unpick current market statistics from the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver to help you understand what’s going on in the real estate market and what you should be looking out for.

March’s statistics report comes straight from Jeff Appelbe. You can read up on March’s insights below to stay up to date on another big month for the market.

The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver is reporting “March Home Sales Up 27% Since February,” but Jeff notes that sales increase seasonally from February to March every year. The more important metric for agents and buyers is the year-by-year comparison. March sales in 2022 were above the ten year average, which is consistent with the numbers we observed in February 2022 as well. 

While March was a busy month, inventory remains at a historic low. Another factor, which Jeff highlights as the real story this month, is a policy interest rate bump put into effect by the Bank of Canada on March 2nd, 2022. This is the first increase to the rate in four years.

Jeff notes that sales decreased significantly in the latter half of the month. There were 746 detached sales in the Fraser Valley in March, with only 33% of them occurring after March 16th. In East Vancouver and Burnaby combined, only 36% of sales were reported in the second half of the month as well. In terms of pricing, the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver is reporting that the MLS Benchmark Price showed a trend upward in pricing in most areas. Yet Jeff notes that the average and median prices are in fact lower than we might expect. 

While these numbers may seem all over the place, the truth, Jeff says, is that we’re at an inflection point. There’s evidence of change across the board, and we can expect more of it in April.

The Bank of Canada met again on April 13th, 2022. Analysts were predicting an overnight interest rate increase of 0.50%, in contrast to the usual 0.25% basis point. In fact, the Bank of Canada has reported an increase of 0.50%, for a net interest rate of 1.00%.

Jeff concludes that this rate increase will be the single greatest factor impacting sales—not government policy or budget changes. What really matters for agents and buyers is affordability, and the mortgage and interest rates that have been driving up prices.

Work with your Oakwyn agent, work with your trusted real estate advisor, and come up with a plan that makes sense for you in 2022 if you’re thinking about making a move.

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