VANCOUVER – Don’t look for any real relief when it comes to the white-hot real estate market in Vancouver.
A new report from Royal Lepage says prices will continue to climb in 2016.
The only saving grace is that the growth rate is expected to be a bit slower.
“The frenetic pace of our country’s largest housing markets should moderate throughout the year ahead,” says Royal Lepage CEO Phil Soper.
“While most of the country will continue to see house value appreciation in 2016, we expect that the pace of price increases in Greater Vancouver and the Greater Toronto Area – where real estate appreciation has significantly outpaced job and wage growth – will settle to a more sustainable, single-digit price increase trajectory.”
There are no indicators as to when prices here might actually level off.
“We can’t predict the future unfortunately. The indicators now are for more price increases so the longer you wait, the more it will cost you until there’s a correction of some kind. I wish I could tell you when and why that may happen but all indicators right now, are pointing north,” says Alan Stewart with Royal Lepage.
“All of us are expecting some kind of a softening in terms of the amount of increases. Effectively the rate at which prices are going up doesn’t seem to be sustainable but we just can’t see any indicator of things slowing down.”
He adds even the pockets of affordable condos within a half hour of Vancouver, in place like New Westminster and Burnaby will keep getting scooped up, meaning those units will eventually catch up to the rest of the market.
Stewart says the low dollar will continue to attract foreign investors, especially when it comes to higher-end properties.
