This Vancouver home set a record of sorts for the Strathcona neighbourhood when it was listed for $1.288-million in November.LAURA LEYSHON
Vancouver's real estate market pulled back slightly in June, but the number of listings spiked as homeowners looked to sell into a hot market.
The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver said sales fell 3.4 per cent in June compared with May, though they were 9.8 per cent higher than a year ago. New listings were 9.8 per cent higher than the 10-year average for the month, and 3.4 per cent higher than in May.
The MLSLink housing price index benchmark price stood at $630,921 in June, up 8.7 per cent from June 2010. The index measures items such as lot size, age and the number of rooms to create a composite "typical" house that can be used for comparison purposes.
The average sale price for June – which can be skewed by expensive listings – will be released by the Canadian Real Estate Association on June 15 along with its national sales summary. In May, the average was $824,268.
The average has been pushed higher by only a few neighbourhoods, said real estate board president Rosario Setticasi.
"The largest price increases continue to be in the detached home market on the west side of Vancouver and in West Vancouver," he said. "Since the end of May, the benchmark price of a detached home rose more than $147,000 on the west side of Vancouver and over $80,000 in West Vancouver. Detached home prices in Richmond, however, levelled off slightly, declining $25,000 in June."
The city's housing market is being closely watched, with some fearing that prices are bound to fall as interest rates move higher and buyers dry up.
BMO Nesbitt burns recently said Vancouver appears primed for a correction, with the average house now costing "an astounding" 11.2 times a family's average income – more than double the national average.