Seller's Unite!

On Tuesday we were telling you just how bad it is for real estate sales in Richmond right now.

Realtor James Wong's monthly R/E report, released June 16th but covering the May 2012 sales data, advised that total listings have hit all time highs, daily price reductions are common, and detached home listings in the million dollar plus category are dying on the vine.

Of the 556 homes on the market with an asking price north of $1,200,000, sales have been so bad that there were 17.7 months of inventory on the market by the end of last month.

Wong's advice to sellers was blunt: If you have to sell, much deeper price cuts are needed.

And if the data from the month of May was bad, June's results are abysmal.

Using sales reported between May 27, 2012 and June 26, 2012, and actives as of today... there is now 23 months of inventory on the Richmond Real Estate market.

Word has it that for the majority of those rare sales that are occurring, most are closing below assessed value of the property as some sellers are obviously taking Mr. Wong up on his sage advice.

But as you can imagine, this is causing a great deal of consternation for other Richmond sellers.

One Chinese real estate forum is calling on 'sellers to unite' to prevent further price drops. (hat tip to VMD on Vancouver Condo Info).

“A brand new house in good area of West Richmond, 8111 Dalemore Rd, was just sold for $1.58M, $170k lower than assessed price of $1.75M. It’s a shame that the (owner) went through so much to purchase this property and build a new house, hoping to earn some money while doing a service to the community, only to (then) recklessly slash (the) price. I call on the sellers to withhold giving in to under-asking offers. We should all pull our listings and wait until a better market to sell in a bidding war situation”

Of course, as VMD notes, do not lament too long for the hardships endured by the seller at 8111 Dalemore Road.

The 5 bedroom, 5 bath mansion was built in 2010 to replace an old-timer teardown which last changed hands for $533,000.

And while the property did recently sell for $170,000 below the 'current' assessed market value of $1,750,000, a final sale price of $1,580,000 hardly qualifies as hardship for this seller - right?

Or does it?

Maybe it really is "a shame that the buyer went through so much to purchase the property and build a new house" and not have it sell in the type of bidding war that one year ago would have realized offers of $300,000 - $400,000 over asking.

Perhaps I am being callous to the needs, hopes and dreams of the Richmond speculator?

Proletariat Unite! Protect the Richmond real estate flipper now!

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