Across the country, the value of building permits issued rose by 5.4% to $7.6 Billion in January. Six provinces, including BC, posted increases.
According to figures reported in early March by StatsCanada, builders, developers and real estate investors seem to have confidence in the residential real estate markets in Canada.
January’s numbers for single family home building permits marked the second highest value on record, and the fourth consecutive month exceeding $2.7 billion – led by Alberta (on the way out of their slump) and BC.
The same two provinces led the pack in the value of permits for multi-family homes.
It is useful to keep an eye on the trends in building permits. Developers are essentially betting their money today on a strong or even stronger housing market in the future, when their project is complete.
And, in a market where the laws of supply and demand are so clearly evident in both activity and prices, it is reassuring to see future increases in housing supply are committed to coming on-stream to meet the demand from our expected population growth.
North Shore Market Trends
North Vancouver Average Sales Price for Detached Houses
In North Vancouver the average price for a detached house has softened by 11.6% from the peak last May – but the graph shows that if we take out that extreme peak, the rest of the trend line looks like a pretty natural rise to where we are today.
Apartment and townhouse average price trends for North Van look even more stable, with a smaller rise last spring, and as a result less correction.
West Vancouver Average Sales Price for Detached Houses
For West Vancouver the graph is choppier because there are far fewer sales there, and the price range can be dramatic, so a couple of very high-end sales can easily skew things.
But we still see a dramatic trend for the first six months of last year, followed by some bouncing to correct at about 10.6% lower than the peak by the end of February.
Of course, anyone who purchased their home more than a year ago has seen a nice lift in value. We’ll check these trends again a few months and see if the market has in fact returned to “normal” patterns.
