I know Wednesday isn’t completely over, and they’ll add a few more sales and listings through the next few hours, but for the first three days of the week, up to 5:14, there were 596 new listings in my target area, 447 price changes, and 274 sales, for a sell/list of 45.97%.

Inventory stands at 19,351, or which 5,965, or 30.83% were over 90s. 

Just for fun, let’s speculate.  With current inventory, let’s pretend the sell/list continues to climb and gets back to 50%.  We’ll hear that we’re in a balanced market, and that its great for buyers.  Will it be? Will we see price growth, or continued price drops?  Shouldn’t a “balanced” market see price stability?

I dropped by Infinity today.  Machinery is on site, the cranes were moving rebar, and men were working on all three towers.

When the market gets tougher, people innovate.  I’m surprised that nobody has mentioned the Sutton Group’s member plan, which offers access to a 4.75% fixed rate mortgage or a 3.85% variable mortgage, which are probably the lowest rates available in Canada.   Any input, insights or comments?

There were 1,080 new listings in my target area last week, and 421 sales, for a sell/list of 38.98%.  Sell/list is not improving, but it seems to have stopped falling.  That said, given inventory levels we will not see any kind of price increase, or even upward pressure, unless the sell/list changes drastically (we’re over 9 MOI right now, which means that if nothing new was listed we’ve got more than 9 months of supply, and the fact is we’re still listing properties). 

 Do prices have to drop?  Only if the sellers want to sell, and that’s the important point.  If all sellers want to sell more than anything else, we’ll see big price drops.  The fewer committed sellers we have, the less average prices will drop (a 25% drop on one property out of ten equals a 2.5% drop on average, while a 25% drop on three out of ten still only equals a 7.5% drop ).   That leads to a couple of interesting question: how do you find the one (or the three) that will take 25% less than perceived market value, and if you do find them, should you buy?

There were 806 price reductions in my target area last week. Inventory reached 19,287, of which 5,703, or 29.57%, were over 90 days.

There were 718 new listings in my target area the first three days of the week, and 279 sales, for a sell/list of 38.86%.  There were 545 price changes. Inventory reached 19,303, of which 5,470, or 28.34% were over 90s (how long until 1 in 3 listings has been on the market for over 90 days? What if they remain stubborn?)

If you go to our Active Listing page you can see a few new opportunities for you. If you go to our Solds page you’ll see that we’ve finally gotten Kent sold (very tough sale).

For the week ending August 8th there were 1,148 new listings in my target area. Average list price was $625,029.  There were  340 sales, for a sell list of 29.62%. 

Average list price of sales was $508,491; average sales price was $491,164, a difference of $17,327, or 3.41%.  Average DOMs was 43.

There were 19 overlists, with an average list price of $563,900, and an average sales price of $572,258, $8,358, or 1.48% higher. DOMs for overlists was 29.

There were 766 price changes, of which 8, or 1.04%, were increases. Average original price of price changes was 638,159; average new price was $26,087, or 4.09% lower, at $612,072. DOMs to price change was 61.

The average sale price was only 80.25% of the average new price of price changes.   Its not surprising that over 90s are growing.

Inventory reached 19,085, of which 5,002, or 26.02% were over 90s.

This week there were 1,279 new listings, with an average list price of $644,453. There were 438 sales, for a sell/list of 34.25%.

Average list price of sales was $516,384; average sales price was $501,212, a difference of $15,172, or 2.94%.  Average DOMs was 49.

There were 16 overlists (3.65%), with an average list price of $552,894, and an average sales price of $652,163, $99,269, or 17.95% higher. DOMs for overlists was 39.

There were 929 price changes, of which 15, or 1.61%, were increases. Average original price of price changes was 656,499; average new price was $29,866, or 4.55% lower, at $626,583. DOMs to price change was 62.

The average sale price was only 79.99% of the average new price of price changes.   Its not surprising that over 90s are growing.

Inventory reached 19,206, of which 5,210, or 27.13%.

Karl Case, of the S&P/Case-Schiller housing index, had some interesting comments in a National Post article yesterday. I found it interesting because I’ve heard a lot about banks in the US having to clear their books of foreclosures, with the implication being that if you want a bargain you have to act now. A couple comments in recent posts also touched on the US subject - one was the news about foreclosure levels (notice of defaults declining while court ordered sales are rising) as well as a comment about Las Vegas having some similar stats to Vancouver. People have commented recently about the whole market timing versus metrics issue. We’ve discovered some acceptable metrics in the Las Vegas market, but of course, the fear is that the market has further to drop. Most would agree that you can buy before the absolute trough, but how do you know how close to the trough you are?

We have a new listing which will be held open Sunday 2-4.  Some of you will remember the proeprty we listed and sold on Rupert.  This one is right across the street.  Its a gorgeous Italian built 6 bedroom home with a  legal suite.  There are nearly 2,800 sq. ft. and its on an extra wide corner lot.

Located across the street from the NW corner of Rupert Park/Pitch & Putt, this is a peaceful & quiet part of East Van, and an excellent family neighbourhood.   It’s a very central location, that is close to all services and walking distance from several parks and the PNE. The lot is manicured, with plenty of mature trees & bushes, and is fully fenced. 

There is an attached double garage, parking for 2 in the driveway + RV parking. The huge sundeck is enclosed, and has brand new vinyl decking.   Tiled entry with curved staircase.  Separate entrance to basement for extended family or mortgage helper. The basement is currently rented fully furnished to students ($1,440/pm). Tenants very flexible.

 Price is $838,000.  MLS number is V728225. You can get more information at Aaron’s website.

There has been some speculation that as the market changes we’ll see many Realtors leave the marketplace.  With that in mind, here’s a little poll:

There were 1,148 new lisitngs in my target are last week, and 340 sales, for a sell list of 29.62%.  Inventory reached 19,085, of which 5,002, or 26.02% were over 90s.

The average list price of new detached in my target area: $900,124 (down). Attached/apartment: $470,199 (down).  All listings: $645,641 (down).

There were 1,164 new listings  (down) and 454 sales (down), for a sell/list of 39.00% (up)(detached 36.00%, attached/apartments 41.07%).  Of the sales 16, or 3.52%, went over list (both down).  Average list price of sales was $555,257, while average sales price was $21,479, or 3.87% lower, at $533,778 (both down).  Average DOM was 46 (up).

The average list price of over-lists was $424,337, while the average sale price of over-lists was $437,756, or +13,419, or +3.16%.  Average DOMs for over-lists was 27.  For the second time the LP and SP of overlists was less than the LP and SP of all sales.  What’s that tell you?

Inventory dropped to 18,761,  of which 4,430, or 23.61% were over 90s.  Inventory drops because its month end, so don’t panic/jump for joy. Over 90s continue to edge up.

There were 919 price changes (down).  Average original price was 674,740, (up) while the average new price is 4.55%, or $30,683 lower (both up), at $644,057 (up).  New price and old price are still higher than last week, despite the price changes themselves being larger. Average DOMs to price change was unchanged at 59.

The average sale price this week dropped to 82.88% of the average new price for price changes (sales price is growing further apart from the new price of reduced listings).

4.81% of all active listings in my are had their prices reduced last week (down, again).