Carmen Leal- Vancouver Real Estate: July 2013

Saturday 27 July 2013

Open house Sunday, July 28 from 2pm to 4pm

Wednesday 10 July 2013

Friday 5 July 2013

Open House this weekend Saturday July 6 and Sunday July 7 from 2pm to 4pm

http://carmenleal.ca/mylistings.html/details-32023594

Click on above link to get further info on the open house this weekend.

Real estate plans?
Contact Carmen Leal @ 604.218.4846

Monthly Market Update July 2013

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July 2013

July 2013 Monthly Report

Welcome to Summer!

Our thoughts are with those who have been affected by the Albertan floods. That said, we're confident that our Albertan brothers and sisters will be able to recover from this disaster.

In addition to reading about the Alberta floods in the paper, the news often covers a wide variety of real estate stories. The media, in an attempt to feed the public's insatiable appetite for real estate news, often publishes interesting pieces of real estate information that help sell papers. Due to constant heavy dose of statistical information, it's important to understand how the data is collected and how to interpret these facts.

Below are the 3 most commonly misunderstood real estate statistics in the media:

1) Pace of Canadian Housing Starts Up

http://globalnews.ca/news/627941/pace-of-canadian-housing-starts-up-in-may/

This shouldn't really matter to buyers or sellers out there. While this is related to the real estate market, it is more relevant for the construction industry than it is to the resale housing market.

Remember, these are new home construction figures: not sales or pricing numbers. Unless you're a construction worker or materials' supplier, this type of information is largely irrelevant to your real estate decision-making process.

2) Home Sales Drop!

http://business.financialpost.com/2013/04/03/toronto-vancouver-home-sales-fall-sharply-in-march/?__lsa=ca1a-ee8a

This kind of information is important for buyers and sellers to know and also helpful for realtors to use. A drop in home sales is sometimes a precursor to lower prices down the road. That said, there are a multitude of reasons that home sales could slow that wouldn't also result in a corresponding drop in prices.

It is therefore important to remember that these are unit sale figures, not price figures. These statistics also generally need to be seasonally adjusted to reflect the fact that sales tend to be slower in the winter and summer as opposed to the spring and fall. You should talk to a professional to see whether a drop in sales velocity is because of a slowing market or because of some other extraneous event.

3) Average House Prices Rise 6.5%!

http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/story/2011/10/17/crea-housing-september.html

This is the most misunderstood of the media reports that come out because averages are a terrible metric to measure house prices.

This is because the type of home that is sold in a given month strongly influences the outcome. For instance, if a lot of luxury homes are sold one month, then the average price of homes will go up, even if the typical home price doesn't change. This is exactly what has already happened in Vancouver, where the average price has risen 5.4% year over year, but the typical home price has fallen (see graph below).

% change in home prices year-over-year
(June 2012 to June 2013)
City	Average price	MLS Home Price Index	Teranet-National Bank HPI
Vancouver	+5.4%	-4.27%	-3.24%
Calgary	+2.6%	+6.87%	+5.84%
Toronto	+4.9%	+2.78%	+3.87%
Montreal	+0.8%	+3.57%	+1.92%

Remember to always read real estate statistics with an eye to these issues and you'll become a more accurate analyst of the market.

For a more complete analysis of these statistics, please feel free to contact me at the email address or phone number above.

(Click chart to see larger image)

*This communication is not intended to cause or induce breach of an existing agency agreement.

*Although this information has been received from sources deemed reliable, we assume no responsibility for its accuracy, and without offering advice, make this submission to prior sale or lease, change in price or terms, and withdrawal without notice.

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Carmen Leal- Vancouver Real Estate