BRENDON OGMUNDSON
BRITISH COLUMBIA – The British Columbia Real Estate Association (BCREA) reports that a total of 10,918 residential unit sales were recorded by the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) in February 2021, an increase of 89.1 per cent over February 2020 and over a thousand sales higher than the previous February record, set in 2016. The average MLS residential price in BC was $889,584, a 17.3 per cent increase from $758,382 recorded in February 2020. Total sales dollar volume was $9.7 billion, a 121.8 per cent increase from last year.
“Near-record sales in Metro Vancouver, combined with unprecedented housing demand outside of Metro Vancouver, continues to drive a blistering pace of home sales in BC,” said BCREA Chief Economist Brendon Ogmundson.
Total active residential listings were down 28.7 per cent to 20,185 units in February, the lowest level of provincial active listings on record, going back to 2000. Fortunately, new listings have increased considerably, but given the pace of sales, total inventory of homes for sale remains severely depleted.
“There is a drought of resale inventory across the province,” added Ogmundson. “With so few listings, and with so much demand for single-detached homes, average prices have increased dramatically.”
