Median home prices in Metro Vancouver are down by 13.5 per cent since February, with some cities seeing much steeper drops than others, according to HouseSigma’s June analysis released Monday.
Delta tops the list, with the median price for all property types dropping to $1.165 million in June, a 28.3 per cent decrease from a 15-year high of $1.625 million earlier this year.
Surrey and Maple Ridge aren’t too far behind either. Median home prices in the two municipalities decreased by 23.4 and 23.2 per cent respectively. In Surrey, median prices fell from $1.1 million in February to $843,000 in June. In Maple Ridge, it dropped from $1.25 million to $960,000.
“Median prices have been dropping consistently and considerably since the Bank of Canada started hiking interest rates earlier this year,” says Hao Li, a Vancouver-based broker with HouseSigma.
“We’re in a market where buyers are feeling emboldened. More and more buyers are holding the upper hand in real estate transactions, sensing that there’s an opportunity here to successfully negotiate with sellers for a lower purchase price.”
Despite the recent drops, median prices in Metro Vancouver remain up by 0.5 per cent year over year. In June 2021, the median price for all properties averaged $885,000. In June 2022, the average was $889,000.
To curb record inflation, the Bank of Canada has systematically raised interest rates since March, and it’s due to meet again on July 13, says Li.
“A July interest rate hike could potentially dial back Metro Vancouver home prices to pre-pandemic levels. It all depends on how aggressive the Bank of Canada is willing to go with rates to battle inflation.”
