Real estate prices lurch down further

Home prices in Metro Vancouver headed in the same direction as the stock markets in November: down.

Real estate prices lurched down another four to five per cent last month, according to the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver.

The benchmark prices of a single detached house is now down 13.6 per cent since May to $666,500.

In the Fraser Valley, real estate is off six to seven per cent since May.

Detached houses in the Fraser Valley area were the one property type where median selling prices actually rose – 3.4 per cent – in November.

CENTURY 21 Canada Launches Full-Screen Property Photos

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA - CENTURY 21 Canada has released a new enhancement to its real estate website that allows visitors to view full-screen photos of listed homes. The feature, called Showcase21, provides fast and easy access to large, clear photos of properties.

CENTURY 21 Canada President, Don Lawby, explains how this enhancement will benefit prospective homebuyers. "The most common thing visitors to Century21.ca do is view property photos. This new feature will improve our clients' experience in screening and reviewing prospective homes. Now more than ever, we believe we have the best real estate website in the world when measured by quantity and quality of photos per listing."

800 homes sold in Greater Vancouver last month.

The global financial crisis is letting the air out of Burnaby's housing market.

Figures released by the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver recently show Burnaby home prices are down from last year, with single-family homes seeing the biggest losses.

In November, the typical detached house in Burnaby sold for $654,790, down 11.2 per cent from November 2007.

Multi-family real estate transactions

Multi-family real estate transactions filed Nov. 1-31 with the Clark County Assessor includes seller’s name, buyer’s name, property location, description, price and closing date.

JP Morgan to Eddlemon, Chad, 2833 N.E. Stapleton Road, Vancouver, 98661, duplex, $247,500, Nov. 12.

Monge, Jorge, to Gong, Jian, 14610 S.E. First St., Vancouver, 98684, four-plex, $315,000, Nov. 26.

Tapia, Ascencion, to Shashati, Elias, 2904 Bridge St., Vancouver, 98661, duplex, $145,000, Nov. 25.

Tapia, Ascencion, to Shashati, Elias, 2908 Bridge St., Vancouver, 98661, duplex, $140,000, Nov. 25.

Real estate sales on the North Shore continued to slow last month

The number suggest the unfolding economic crisis has slowed buyers down, said Rudy Nielsen, president of Landcor Data Corporation, a company that specializes in real estate information.

"My opinion is most people are nervous," he said. "They've seen so much negative stuff in the media. . . . Everybody's just sitting back and saying: 'I'm not going to do anything.' "

The North Shore's declining home values are part of a larger trend across the Lower Mainland. November saw the benchmark price for a home in the Vancouver region fall to $496,000, a 12.8-per-cent drop from a year ago. In all, just 874 Lower Mainland homes sold last month compared to 2,883 in November 2007, meaning the region's housing market has slowed by almost 70 per cent.

Preening for the Olympics, Vancouver Is Building Up

With the 2010 Winter Games a bit more than a year away, many buildings are rising in and around Vancouver, each crowned by a slender crane that hoists construction materials to the top. Some of these new buildings will be condominiums, and a significant number of them will be owned by those who plan to use them as second homes.

Those involved in local real estate estimate that about 20 percent of those second-home buyers will be Americans. “We’re really livable, which is why America likes us,” said Bob Rennie, whose company, Rennie Marketing Systems, promotes several developments in Vancouver.

There has been a lot of construction going on in Vancouver in preparation for the Games — and beyond. After the Winter Games, the 16-building Olympic Village, which will house about 2,800 athletes, is to be converted into a 730-unit luxury condominium complex called Millennium Water. About half the units have already been sold, Mr. Rennie said.

Metro Vancouver real-estate sales volumes fall in November

There’s more evidence of a slowing housing market in Metro Vancouver.

Today, the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver reported in a news release that the volume of residential property sales declined 69.7 percent in November from the same month a year ago.

In the past month, there were 874 residential sales, compared with 2,883 sales in November, 2007. The REBGV does not include Surrey and Langley, which are part of the Fraser Valley Real Estate Board.

The sales volume of detached properties dropped 69.8 percent from the same month a year ago, whereas the sales volume of apartments fell 67.9 percent.

Prices also fell, though not nearly as sharply. The REBGV’s benchmark price for residential properties fell 8.3 percent in November from the same month a year ago.