Metro Vancouver Real Estate Outlook for 2012

CMHC Forecast

The official forecast is for Metro Vancouver resales to rise 9 per cent and the average overall home price to increase 2.2 per cent from 2011 to $805,000. The average detached house price in the Vancouver area is expected to crack above $1.1 million in 2012.

For all of B.C., housing sales are forecast to increase 7.4 per cent, with the average price flatlining at $559,500, after a 3.1 per cent drop this year, according to CMHC.

Province wide housing starts are expected to fall 2.5 per cent in 2012, to 26,700 units, though CMHC sees Metro Vancouver starts rising nearly 6 per cent next year to 18,000 units, led by condo and townhouses.

Real estate “the driver” in Metro Vancouver’s economy

Partially due to the housing sector, the unemployment rate in Metro Vancouver is forecast to fall to 7 per cent in 2012, from 7.7 per cent this year.

Next year in Greater Vancouver sales of 33,000 resale homes will generate $26 billion. At the same time, annual new-home construction permits in the Lower Mainland are in the $3 billion range and residential construction directly employs 113,000 people, not counting realtors, mortgage brokers and other soft support. Home renovations are worth another $7 billion to the provincial economy.

“Best global real estate investment”

Another telling conclusion from the Trends conference: the best global real estate investment for 2012 is a single-family detached house in either Vancouver or Toronto. The second is a residential rental property in either city.

So the housing outlook perhaps isn’t just about what you can sell your home for: it is about the economic future of a region.

Which makes the current sales downturn in Metro Vancouver — with MLS sales tracking down for five straight months as of November and cracks showing in the new-home market — the focus of intense interest.

HST confusion

A report on the west side of Vancouver new-condo market, the most expensive in Canada, confirmed that sales of new product has been declining since the HST was voted out on July 1. With 1,233 new condominiums unsold and another 4,151 units planned, sales of new condos in the market are averaging 112 per month with “the sales trend slowing through the summer and fall months of 2011,” according to MPC Intelligence. MPC, which monitors the new-home market, said the HST repeal is “negatively affecting sales of higher-end inventory.”

Still, the overall inventory of new and unsold condos in Metro Vancouver is falling, according to CMHC, with about 1,300 in the current market.

MPC said it has begun to see price discounting and buyer incentives at a number of new west side condo projects, but this may reflect aggressive pricing earlier in 2011.

Luxury market strong

All this does not faze Bruce Langois, president of Delta Lands, which is patiently selling the ultra-luxury Residences at Georgia in downtown Vancouver. This is where an $18 million penthouse condo sold early last year and where condo prices start at $1,500 per square foot, among the highest in North America.

Langois takes the long view. “Think of searching on Google Earth for the best neighbourhoods in the world,” he said. “For the wealthy, who can buy anywhere they want, it is a very short list. And Vancouver is right at the top of that list.”

According to Citizenship and Immigration Canada, there is backlog of more than 300,000 Chinese residents who want to immigrate to Canada, and Vancouver is the preferred choice for investor immigrants, who must prove cash assets of $1.6 million. This year, an estimated 45,000 immigrants will arrive in Metro Vancouver, a level that should continue for years, according to CMHC.

Langois said he has no doubt that he can find buyers for the 40 luxury homes at the Residences of Georgia. Confidence is also seen in the new-detached market. Buyers lined up in the rain for hours last month to buy new $600,000-plus houses in Coquitlam, which sold 14 new houses in less than four hours.

Fraser Valley

A buyer’s market has become entrenched in the Fraser Valley over the past few months, a signal of what is happening the farther one gets from Vancouver. As of November, there were more than 10,000 homes for sale in the Valley — and 2,400 new listings added — but sales were averaging just 1,120 per month. While prices are higher than a year earlier, they have been falling month-over-month since early summer.

“What’s happening is that there is a large amount of inventory available in the Fraser Valley, in particular with condos and townhomes, and that’s what’s holding prices in check,” said board president Sukh Sidhu. It now takes two-and-a-half months, on average, to sell a Fraser Valley condominium apartment, he noted.

CMHC does not see a quick recovery in the Fraser Valley, forecasting a 3 per cent drop in MLS sales in 2012, and no increase in prices. In Abbotsford, sales are forecast to fall 11 per cent this year and a further 4 per cent next year.

Victoria

B.C.’s capital city will see a modest recovery in 2012 after watching housing sales decline for three straight years. Total MLS sales are forecast to increase 6.8 per cent next year, while average resale home prices will remain nearly unchanged at $505,000, from a year earlier.

Housing starts in Victoria will increase 8.8 per cent in 2012, but remain below the average over the past four years.

Victoria will continue to have one of the lowest vacancy rates in Canada: 1.4 per cent in 2012 according to CMHC. It also has one of the lowest unemployment rates, at 5.4 per cent projected for 2012.

Kelowna

Both CMHC and Central 1 Credit Union are forecasting a weak recovery in the Central Okanagan, where sales have been falling steadily for three years, with resales down 5.4 per cent in 2011. Residential sales in 2012 are expected to come back to around 3,100 units, which would still be below the level of 2009. Prices will flatline at 2011 levels.

Kelowna will be the bright spot, according to CMHC, which sees an 11 per cent leap in resales in 2012 with only a modest increase in the average price of a resale home, which fell 2.6 per cent this year to $512,000.

The Kelowna vacancy rate is easing and is forecast to be 4.5 per cent in 2012, down from 5.5 per cent this year. The upturn hinges on an improvement in the local employment rate, which CMHC sees falling to 7.5 per cent next year, the lowest level since 2009.

The resort market is expected to remain in the doldrums in 2012 due to lack of out-of-province buyers and the HST, which is fully applied to secondary properties, according to Central 1.

“A breather year”

CMHC regional economist Carol Frketich notes that B.C. will post 2.7 per cent economic growth next year, one of the best in Canada, and mortgage rates will remain near historic lows. This, she said, is evidence that the residential market will be “balanced” in 2012, with a chance for an upturn in northern markets such as Prince George.

Source: Frank O’Brien, Western Investor. From REW.ca.

If you have any real estate questions or if you are thinking of buying or selling your home, please contact James Chung, Metro Vancouver REALTOR® at [email protected] or call ( 6 0 4 ) 7 1 9 – 6 3 2 8 today!