The Noose is Tightening

We've had a lot of our attention focused on the topic of Silver lately, but we are still watching the real estate bubble very closely and await the April statistics for a measure of where we currently stand.

One thing is for certain, however.

The larger periphery around the Village on the Edge of the Rainforest is NOT selling at all and we do not expect the April data to change that trend in any way.

When the month end of March statistics came out, the local blog Vancouver RE noted that in the final two weeks of the month (after the new mortgage rules came into place) the outskirts of the Lower Mainland were sucking wind.

On the Sunshine Coast, 6 detached residential units sold out of 517.

Squamish had 4 sales out of 196.

Whistler had 0 sales out of  178 detached listings and 2 condos sold out of 279 on the market!

In the Gulf Islands only 3 residential detached units have sold since January 1, 2011 out of 136 listed.

In the Central Okanagan, sales were down 25% year over year (YOY) with months of inventory (MOI) at a staggering 23 months.

In the Northern Okanagan, sales are down 15% YOY with 23 MOI.

The Sushwap sales are down 30% YOY with a staggering 39 MOI!!

And last week the Victoria Times Colonist summarised conditions best when they said "The first quarter of 2011 has proven to be a tale of two real estate markets in B.C. - the Lower Mainland and everyone else."

In Victoria sales were down 18.1% and the average price fell 2.8% to $491,336.

The rest of Vancouver Island did not fare much better with sales down 12.2% and average price falling slightly to $318,199.

Carol Crabb, president elect of the Victoria Real Estate Board, said it best by noting, "There's nothing to push prices up because there's so many properties and there's nothing to push buyers into making a decision as there's lots to choose from and lots of time to make decisions."

The Vancouver real estate bubble remains, but it is clear the noose is tightening.

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Email: village_whisperer@live.ca
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