New Westminster’s real estate market continues to soar and sellers are the ones reaping the rewards as prices continue to creep up.
Take, for example, a listing on London Street in Connaught Heights that is selling for a jaw dropping $1.9 million. I say jaw dropping – a term I saw someone on Twitter use and I concur - because the house is old – 78 years old – and tiny at under 2,000 square feet for a single-detached house.
The listing calls the home “totally adorable” but mainly talks about its redevelopment potential for investors. Based on the current market, it appears destined to sell for over the asking price, maybe even hitting $2 million.
The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV) reports that residential home sales in the region totalled 3,424 in February 2022, a 49.8 per cent increase from the 2,285 homes sold in January 2022. Last month’s sales were 26.9 per cent above the 10-year February sales average.
In New Westminster, there was a big jump in sales in February, with a total of 153 compared with just 98 in January. Of course, prices went up too as the median price for a detached house sold for $1.883,000, compared to $1.3 million in February 2021.
“As we prepare to enter what’s traditionally the busiest season of the year, the Metro Vancouver housing market is seeing more historically typical home sale activity and a modest uptick in home listing activity compared to last year,” Taylor Biggar, REBGV Chair said.
There were 5,471 detached, attached and apartment properties newly listed for sale on the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) in Metro Vancouver in February 2022. This represents an 8.4 per cent increase compared to the 5,048 homes listed in February 2021 and a 31.2 per cent increase compared to January 2022 when 4,170 homes were listed.
The total number of homes currently listed for sale on the MLS system in Metro Vancouver is 6,742, a 19.3 per cent decrease compared to February 2021 (8,358) and a 19.1 per cent increase compared to January 2022 (5,663).
“Despite having a higher volume of people listing their homes for sale in February, the region’s housing market remains significantly undersupplied, which has been pushing home prices to new highs month after month,” Biggar said.
The MLS Home Price Index composite benchmark price for all residential properties in Metro Vancouver is currently $1,313,400. This represents a 20.7 per cent increase over February 2021 and a 4.6 per cent increase compared to January 2022.
Follow Chris Campbell on Twitter @shinebox44.
