August 2010 stats

Well, the August sales numbers for real estate are now coming out.

The benchmark price, an average for typical homes sold, was down almost 3% in Metro Vancouver to $576,597 compared to the peak $593,419 which was hit in April.

In the Fraser Valley, the benchmark price for a typical detached home dipped almost 2% to $510,107 in August compared with $520,423 in April.

As we mentioned yesterday, the exception to all of this were the statistics for the west side of Vancouver where prices rose last month.

And while that bit of new is a silver lining, the stats are bad news and it marks the third consecutive gloomy month.

Look for fall the be battle royale against this developing trend.

Bank of Montreal is leading the assault to overturn this looming tide. BMO has chopped its benchmark five-year mortgage rate to 3.59%, down from 3.79%, making it one of the lowest five-year rates ever offered by a Canadian bank.

Trumpeting the news is Martin Nel, a senior BMO official, who said “It’s a great time to buy a home,” in a news release announcing the change. He added that people who take advantage of the offer will benefit and went on to stress, “if ever there was a time to buy, it is now.”

You can almost sense the desperate undertone. Listings are up, sales are down and prices are starting to slip.

In the industry this is called 'downward pressure' and it's not hard to see what will be coming this fall to counteract this.

Watch for a plethora of news items trumpeting the fact mortgage rates coming down to their lowest points ever and that low mortgage rates and lower housing prices mean that prices will be shooting up again soon.

You know the drill: Buy now... or be priced out forever.

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