Agent Will

Another call has gone out for home prices to continue rising.  Usually I do not post these things here because one talking head’s point of view (myself included) can be equally valid to another’s.  The thing is, what I am seeing out there is a lot of people who were hesitant now going forward with more confidence.  I am also seeing a lot of multiple offers for well priced attractive homes.  I said at the beginning of the year to watch the number of listings and that that would determine whether prices rose, flattened, or fell.  Well here we are in the middle of March, arguably a time when listings should be rocketing up but they really are not.  Correction, they are… but not the number of truly attractive homes.  And that is all that sells.  Attractive homes.  In fact, those homes which do sell are doing so in an average of 32 days.  Those not selling are active on the market for an average of more than double that number.  So to sum up, we may indeed see prices rise over the next year or so.  As long as unattractive homes which don’t sell are the only ones getting listed while buyers jump all over the great few that do.

From the CBC:

Anyone looking for a dip in the British Columbia real estate market before buying a home might need to reconsider their strategy.

A new report by the Credit Union Central of British Columbia is predicting that housing prices will continue to rise by as much as 10 per cent this year and as much as 7 per cent in 2009.

Lower mortgage rates, a tight labour market, high income growth and rising in-migration all point to continued high sales volumes and price rises, according the CUCBC’s chief economist Helmut Pastrick.

The Economic Analysis of British Columbia released Monday says the currently housing boom is unlike previous market cycles that ended with a large oversupply of homes, causing a sharp drop in prices.

While in the current market, sales have already plateaued, the supply of houses is only gradually catching up with demand. And with the current drop in mortgage rates, the CUCBC expects the number of home sales will pick up once again.

The report says that while Vancouver and Victoria set the general tone for the B.C. market, areas such as Kamloops, the Kootenay, the Okanagan, and Vancouver Island are forecast to rise as much as 15 per cent, while northern, lumber-dependent communities will have weaker markets.

And while the high cost of single-family houses for low-income families is restricting the volume of sales in that market, it is creating a shift toward more condominium units, said the report.

As a result, the report predicts that in 2009 for the first time, the sales of multi-family units such as condominiums and townhomes could exceed single-family homes in B.C.

Tenants can expect rents to rise three per cent and rental vacancy rates to drop as low as 0.5 per cent as in-migration continues and fewer renters are able to afford their own homes, says the report.

Despite the growing number of small investors buying into the condominium market, the “flip rate” — selling a property within three months of buying —  remains below 2 percent, the report says.

The report concludes that market speculation is limited, but concedes it does not track the speculative purchase of pre-sale contracts for properties under construction.