While Metro Vancouver’s housing market experienced an uptick in sales to end the year, despite below-average sales activity in 2019, the number of homes available for sale in the region is declining.

For the first time since May 2018, the total number of homes listed for sale in the region fell below 10,000 in December.

This downward trend in available listings is focused in the condo market, which has seen historically low listings over the past few years.

Like many markets, home prices in Metro Vancouver are driven by supply and demand. The total inventory of homes listed for sale represents the “supply” side of this equation.

The total number of sales represents the demand.

We measure supply and demand by comparing the inventory of homes for sale with the number of sales in a month. We call this the sales-to-active listings ratio.

In December, Metro Vancouver’s housing market saw a ratio of 23%. If this ratio is sustained over a period of time, we’ll enter sellers’ market territory.

If you want to keep up to date on current Vancouver housing market conditions, check out our Monthly Market Report.