Vancouver real estate rebounded in 2013, though the market has yet to reach the heights it achieved two years ago.
Sales of detached, attached and apartment properties were up 14 per cent in 2013 over 2012, which was a brutal period for housing, though sales were still 11.9 per cent beneath 2011 levels, said a Friday news release from the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV).
“Home sales quietly improved last year compared to 2012, although the volume of activity didn’t compare to some of the record-breaking years we experienced over the last decade," REBGV president Sandra Wyant said.
The statistics came as the board also reported a dramatic increase in December home sales over last year, with 1,953 properties changing hands, 71 per cent more than those sold in December 2012.
But last month's numbers also represented a 15.9 per cent decline from November 2013, when 2,321 home sales were recorded.
December's sales were also 8.1 per cent above the 10-year average of 1,807.
Bryan Yu, an economist for Central 1 Credit Union, told The Vancouver Sun that he expects to see more stability for the market in 2014 after a poor start to 2013.
Greater Vancouver recorded its second-lowest January for home sales since 2001 last year.
"You’re not going to see the volatility we saw last year, though there will be a slight drop off in momentum into the first quarter (of 2014)," Yu told the newspaper.
The credit union forecasts property sales to increase six per cent this year.
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