The past year saw cooling in both the number of sales and prices of properties sold in Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows.
The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV) has released its statistics for 2023, and the board describes the market as more balanced.
In Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows, sales dropped across all property types with house sales down from 977 in 2022 to 926 in 2023, townhouses down from 541 to 493 units, and apartments dropping from 497 to 455 sales.
The median selling prices also came down in Ridge Meadows – houses from $1.35 million to $1.25, townhouses from $820,000 to $790,000, and apartments from $540,000 to $522,000.
Overall, Metro Vancouver’s housing market closed out 2023 with more balanced market conditions than the post-pandemic market, but the board says the year-end totals mask a story of surprising resilience in the face of the highest borrowing costs seen in over a decade.
The REBGV reports residential sales in the region totalled 26,249 in 2023, a 10.3 per cent decrease from the 29,261 sales recorded in 2022, and a 41.5 per cent decrease from the 44,884 sales in 2021.
Last year’s sales total was 23.4 per cent below the 10-year annual sales average (34,272).
“You could miss it by just looking at the year-end totals, but 2023 was a strong year for the Metro Vancouver housing market considering that mortgage rates were the highest they’ve been in over a decade,” said Andrew Lis, REBGV’s director of economics and data analytics.
“In our 2023 forecast, we called for modest price increases throughout the year while most other forecasters were predicting price declines. The fact that we ended the year with five-per-cent plus gains in home prices across all market segments demonstrates that Metro Vancouver remains an attractive and desirable destination, and elevated borrowing costs alone aren’t enough to dissuade buyers determined to get into this market.”
Longtime Maple Ridge realtors Steve and Gloria Hamilton say the coming market for 2024 will be hard to predict in current conditions.
“The number of listings is abnormally low, because people are afraid they can’t re-enter the market if they sell,” said Steve.
Across the region, the number of listings was 23 per cent below the 10-year average.
There are forecasts from some economists that interest rates will drop in the coming year, after a year of numerous hikes, but Hamilton said that too is unpredictable.
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In Maple Ridge, townhomes and apartments are still selling well, and Hamilton said approximately 3,000 new condo units are being processed at Maple Ridge city hall. Many will be in the downtown core.
And, he said detached houses priced under $1 million also sell well in Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows.
“If you see a house listed at $999,000, it’ll have swarms of buyers,” said Steve, but added the bidding will likely drive the price up.
The MLS Home Price Index composite benchmark price for all residential properties in Metro Vancouver is currently $1,168,700. This is a five per cent increase over December 2022, and a 1.4 per cent decrease compared to November 2023.
“Ultimately, the story of 2023 is one of too few homes available relative to the pool of willing and qualified buyers,” Lis said. “Sellers were reluctant to list their properties early in the year, which led to fewer sales than usual coming out of the gate. But this also led to near record-low inventory levels in the spring, which put upward pressure on prices as buyers competed for the scarce few homes available.”
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