Vancouver Homeowners Pulling Listings Out Off Market

Matt Chan • December 5, 2012

Attention First Time Buyers – Price Drops Being Held Off

From what I am seeing, the lack of home purchase activity is not due to lack of buyers.  It is due to a major expectation gap between what sellers are expecting to get for their home and what buyers are willing to pay for it.  I am seeing this from many of my purchase clients who are waiting for the ‘right price’ and expecting prices to drop.  I also have clients that need to sell their home before buying their next home but are very reluctant to price drop their home for various reasons (one of them being that they need the additional equity to upgrade).

Here is a recent article that discusses this in our market:

The free-falling Vancouver housing market shows no signs of reversing its slide with the latest figures showing November sales 30.3% below the 10-year average for the month.

The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver now says consumers have begun pulling their homes off the market rather than settle for a lower prices in what is still the country’s most expensive market to buy a home.

Since reaching a peak of $625,000, the board’s MLS Home Price Index for all residential properties in the city is off 4.5% to an average of $596,900. Prices are off 1.7% from a year ago.

Home sellers appear more inclined to remove their properties from the market today rather than lower prices to sell their properties

“Home sellers appear more inclined to remove their properties from the market today rather than lower prices to sell their properties. On the other hand, buyers appear to be expecting prices to moderate,” said Eugen Klein, president of the board.

REBGV said there were 1,686 sales in November, a 28.6% drop from a year ago. The decline in sales from just October was 12.7% and November sales were well below the 10-year average of 2,420 for the month.

What does this mean to you?

If you are in the market to buy a home, you need to prepare yourself to move quickly when you find the place you want.  What I am seeing now is that when a seller decides to price a home to sell, the home can move very quickly.  It is not uncommon for multiple offers on an attractive home that is priced right.  What that means is that the offers will be very competitive and your offer has to be very competitive to have a shot at winning the purchase.  Other than price, the other factors that make an offer attractive are: 1) how quickly or flexible are you with the subject removal and completion date and 2) how many other conditions are you going to put on the offer

To ensure you are in a position to put the best possible offer is to get pre-approved for a mortgage and to understand everything you need to quickly complete a mortgage.  A mortgage requires completing paperwork and it is best that you are prepared for it when you need to move in a hurry.  If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me for a discussion on this process and how I can help you purchase your home.

Matt

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