Market update: Remainder of 2010 Forecast & April Summary
Good News!
The chief economist of the BC Real Estate Association is Cameron Muir. He states that Real Estate sales have stabilized while inventories of unsold homes have risen, which is keeping pressure off prices and we should expext prices to remain stable for the rest of 2010. This will allow buyers to stay afloat from any furtherprice increases until the end of 2010.
"I anticipate prices will remain fairly flat for the rest of the year as a result of the countervailing forces of improving economy and job growth [offset] by affordability."
In terms of job growth and unemployment this month, there have been 13,000 new jobs added to the economy, and an unemployment rate of 7.3 per cent (versus 7.5 per cent in Alberta) which looks good for the Vancouver Real Estate market. Because B.C.'s unemployment rate is now below Alberta's it will attract numbers for the province's population. As such, employment opportunities are supportive of the housing demand in Vancouver. This is a direct correlation with the April 2010 stats below.
April was a relatively strong month in real estate for 2010. The number of sales in April 2010 were 8385. This number is 21% higher than April 2009 and 4% lower than March 2010.The number of listings were at 54,029, a 9% increase from April 2009.
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