August Real Estate numbers for Richmond

Back at the start of the year we commented on the Vancouver suburb of Richmond which was booming with HAM (Hot Asian Money) and property values were soaring. Homes were selling for as much as $300,000 above asking price and the City seemed consumed by real estate bidding wars.

Then came the Japanese earthquake and Tsunami. By the end of March Richmond was suffering from  'The Fickle Winds of Change' as buyers had doubts about a community located below sea level.

Two months later, as attention on Japan waned, we noted that Richmond continued to suffer with declining sales.

And now, as August real estate sales numbers are released, calling the situation in Richmond 'ugly' is an understatement.

There were 95 detached homes sold last month, a drop of -23% from August of 2010.  Attached unit sales totaled 69 down -17% year over year (yoy).  And apartment sales totaled  96 for a drop of -24% from last year.

(hat tip to Inventory who posted the numbers over at Vancouver Condo Info)

The most glaring sign of this 'crash-in-the-making' is that only one 'new' Condo was sold last month compared to 13 that sold in August 2010.

This marks the 3rd worst August for sales of detached homes in Richmond in the last 17 years (the worst being 2008, second worst 1998).

Richmond Detached (Homes) Unit sales August

1994 = 190
1995 = 121
1996 = 136
1997 = 137
1998 = 79
1999 = 100
2000 = 113
2001 = 168
2002 = 146
2003 = 177
2004 = 137
2005 = 212
2006 = 139
2007 = 173
2008 = 49 (-71%)
2009 = 170
2010 = 124
2011 = 95 (-23%)

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