Vancouver Real Estate Market down; US market picking up?

The US housing meltdown is said to be the biggest economic problem for the US.  Apparently last month there was a slight improvement in that market.  This is important for our Vancouver market because it seems that many of the housing problems that we are having are related to the US-clients are often saying that they anticipate a crash because of what has happened in the USA (not recognizing the difference between what happened there and what is happening here) and of course based on the media coverage of the US situation and predictions of gloom and doom.

In any event, last month (July) home sales in the USA were apparently up by 3.1%-more than was expected. Since about September 2005, the peak of the market there, the sales volume decreased by 31% .  As we know improvements in the US market should help us here. While this increase is small, it is an increase and it occurred in a month not usually known for high sales volumes. That seems to be a good sign as we move into what is normally the busier part of the yearly real estate sales cycle. The one thing to note though is that the prices in the US have continued to come down-which may have been what is sparking the sales activity. This continues to cause problems especially with the short sales issue continuing.  However, apparently the influx of buyers into the market due to low prices should end up pushing prices up (supply and demand).  I guess we'll have to wait and see.....

 

(Statistics and other information taken from Vancouver Sun Aug 27, 2008 "A faint spark of hope glimmers amid housing gloom in U.S.", Ian Bryan)