The real estate market in Metro Vancouver finished strong in December, but the annual numbers were only a slight improvement from 2023.The Metro Vancouver real estate market finished 2024 off relatively strong, but the year as a whole was only a slight improvement from 2023 and was down substantially from prior years, according to year-endFor 2024, the Greater Vancouver region recorded a total of 26,561 residential sales, which represents a 1.2% increase from the 26,249 recorded in 2023.
Compared to a wider scope of past years, however, the 2024 total represents a 9.2% decrease from the 29,261 recorded in 2022 and a 20.9% drop-off from the 10-year annual average of 33,559. On the supply side, a total of 60,388 new homes were listed in 2024, which represents an 18.7% increase compared to the 50,894 in 2023. The 2024 total also represented a 9.7% increase over the 55,047 listed in 2022 and a 5.7% increase over the 10-year annual average of 57,136. 'Looking back on 2024, it could best be described as a pivot year for the market after experiencing such dramatic increases in mortgage rates in the preceding years,' said GVR Director of Economics and Data Analytics Andrew Lis. 'Disappointingly, sales came in shy of our forecasted target for the year.'in 2024, a 7.6% improvement over 2023. It's projection assumed the Bank of Canada would cut its policy interest rate by a minimum of 0.50%. (We started 2024 off at 5.00% and ended at the current rate of 3.25%.)All of this comes despite a relatively strong end to the year. For the month of December, a total of 1,765 home sales were recorded, which represents a big 31.2% improvement from the 1,345 recorded in December 2023. However, that may say more about 2023 than 2024, as the the December 2024 total is 14.9%In terms of supply, 1,676 new listings came online last month, which represents a 26.3% increase compared to the 1,327 added in December 202