In our first episode of 2024, we dive into the December stats to wrap up 2023 and present our predictions for the year ahead. This podcast episode covers two exciting topics: the year-end Vancouver Housing statistics and our predictions for 2024, focusing on economic drivers and real estate trends.
Starting with the December stats, noting that total sales reached 1,345, marking a 3.2% increase from December 2022. While somewhat better than last December, this figure is still 36.4% below the 10-year seasonal average. This continues to indicate a decreasing trend in sales. New listings in December 2023 were 1,327, reflecting a 10% increase compared to the previous year but still 22.7% below the 10-year seasonal average!
The inventory stands at 7,594, showing a dramatic 43% month-over-month decrease, this is big - even for December. This low level of inventory historically leads to a bullish year in prices, as seen in 2016, 2017, 2021, and 2022.
The sales-to-active ratio is 18%, up 1.7% which is a little baffling considering the notable drop in sales and continues to highlight a year that never saw a buyer's market! Looking to prices, price dropped to $1,168,700, down $16,400 or 1.4%, marking the fifth consecutive month of price decreases and a 3.6% drop overall. Days on market have increased to 24, up 4 days from the previous month.
Transitioning to predictions for 2024, we dive into the would-be economic drivers for our region and what that will do to real estate forecasts. Despite facing recessionary headwinds and what will likely be a further slowing in the economy before the BoC reveals their much anticipated rate cuts, there's increasing optimism, particularly in real estate sentiment looking at the latter half of 2024.
In the almost impossible world of real estate forecasting, we are anticipating a much different year from 2023. Dan and I go through the major economic drivers for 2024 which help provide insights into the local economic arena that will dictate how the real estate sector performs and predictions for it. In this part of the episode we delve into interest rate predictions, inventory and home price predictions - we even look at which markets will outperform the GVRD.
The episode is packed with great content as we consider the notable trends, challenges, and opportunities that are expected to shape the real estate landscape in 2024.
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Dan Wurtele, PREC, REIA
604.809.0834
Ryan Dash PREC
778.898.0089
ryan@thevancouverlife.com