December Smashes Home Sales Record and 2015 Enters Record Book, BCREA
Vancouver, BC – January 15, 2016. The British Columbia Real Estate Association (BCREA) reports that a record number of home sales were recorded in the province for the month of December. A total of 6,590 residential unit sales were recorded by the Multiple Listing Service® (MLS®) last month, up 29.8 per cent from the same month the previous year. Total sales dollar volume hit a record $4.62 billion for the month of December, up 55.4 per cent compared to the previous year.
The average MLS® residential price in the province climbed above the $700,000 threshold for the first time in BC last month, rising 19.7 from December 2014 to $700,943.
“The 2015 housing market finished in dramatic fashion, with record demand for month of December,” said Cameron Muir, BCREA Chief Economist. “BC home sales breached the 100,000 unit threshold in 2015, and it was only the third time on record that this high watermark was achieved.”
The combination of record home average home prices and near record annual unit sales prices propelled the dollar volume of MLS® residential to a record $65.3 billion in 2015, up nearly 37 per cent from the previous year. The average annual residential price reached a record $636,627 last year, up 12 per cent from 2014. A total of 102,517 residential unit sales were recorded, an increase of 22 per cent compared to 2014. A record 106,310 residential unit sales were recorded in 2005, while the only other year eclipsing 2015 were 2007 when 102,805 unit sales were recorded.
“Housing demand last month was the second strongest ever recorded for the month of November,” said Cameron Muir, BCREA Chief Economist. “You’d need to look all the way back to the frenetic market of 1989 to find more homes trading hands in November.“