With so many changes coming from both the Federal and Provincial levels of Government, people are choosing the sidelines either hoping a full on crash is coming or crossing their fingers it does not. Rather than passively watching from the sidelines we want you to monitor some key stats so you
know when to act before the market sidelines you. Below is a list of key items to help you make the most sense of what is happening in the market.

It is important to note that we have several micro markets within our real estate market so the following stats should be specific to the micro market you are interested in:

1. Inventory: Here is a link to some board stats that will allow you to monitor inventory based on cities in the Lower Mainland.

It is logical to assume that increased inventory will result in lower prices but not if inventory levels have not been able to meet demand. This graph will allow you to monitor total active listings (total inventory) against new inventory (units listed) and the monthly demand (units sold).

2. Prices: The Home Price Index for specific cities can be monitored here. The key thing to note about this indicator is that it will show you a trend rather than extreme highs and lows. A median sales price graph will show a more extreme graph – picture curve versus jagged. We have published median sales graphs for Burnaby here.

If you want to see this for a specific area please let us know and we will send you a link to graph that will auto update every month for your chosen area(s).

3. Days on Market: As days on market increase it is easier to monitor a change from a Seller’s market to a Buyer’s market. Here is a link to the average Days on Market for the whole Greater Vancouver Market.

If you want this information for the specific area you want to monitor please reply to this message and we will send you an auto updating link.

Here are two areas to monitor that affect our Markets as a whole:

1. Interest Rates: You can monitor when the Bank of Canada is set to announce their interest rate policy as well as set targets for the overnight lending rate.

The overnight lending rate affects our variable (and fixed) mortgage rates as well as our currency. Increasing interest rates make it more difficult for people to qualify for mortgages and impacts the amount of an individual’s borrowing potential, especially with the stricter qualification rules introduced this year.

2. Government Policy: There is no specific website to monitor this information so setting up a google news delivery is probably the best method to get the latest news on the topics below:
• Taxation: Monitor on both a federal and provincial level
• Immigration: A couple of Federal monitoring resources are:
• Stats Can
• Immigration News and Newsletter
• Interprovincial Migration

If you would like to see stats specific to an area just send us a message and we will send you auto updating resource links.