Let’s look at townhome sales in a different way…

October’s sales for each property type:
Detached Home Sales: 1335, a 33.1% ▲ above the 10 year avg.
Townhome Sales: 782, a 95.9% ▲ **above the 10 year avg.
Condo Sales: 1177, a 33.4% ▲ above the 10 year avg.

**We noted that many of our clients told us they have had to reconsider their needed living space and were looking at townhomes for the first time. Townhomes are attractive to both upsizers from condos and downsizers from detached homes.

From MLS data, we noted that townhome sales in Greater Vancouver over last 10 years were on average 399 monthly with a standard deviation of 121. October’s sales of 782 townhomes may not seem like a lot but it is actually over 3.1 standard deviations away from the 10 year average of 399! This is significant and means that 99.7% of the monthly townhome sales would be lower! This shows us that the recent shift in buyer behaviour – looking for more space – is significantly affecting the real estate market.

ASIDE: There are – of course – other factors that are driving an increase in sales – including low interest rates, banking confidence, recent government measures to try to regulate insurance premiums, etc. However, these factors would tend to drive up sales across the board not townhomes specifically.