House prices to hit a national high

Greater Vancouver's house prices are going through the roof.

The market shook off a dismal first quarter of 2009, when horror stories of the U.S. subprime-mortgage fiasco were still rife, to end the year at an average estimated at $600,000, real-estate firm Re/Max said yesterday.

"Greater Vancouver is expected to lead the country with a phenomenal 45-per-cent increase in unit sales, bringing the total number of residential homes sold to 36,500, up from 25,149 one year earlier," Re/ Max said in its 2010 outlook.

The $640,000 average price predicted for 2010, the highest in Canada, will be a Canadian record.

Compare that with the national average of $325,000.

Victoria and Kelowna are ranked second and third among the 23 cities across Canada for 2010 in the Re/ Max survey, with average home prices of $495,000 and $438,700, respectively.

In Vancouver, the average price of a home "bottom[ed] out" at a whopping $530,763 in March, and overall the price of a home in Greater Vancouver rose by three per cent, the firm said

Greater Toronto ranks fourth for 2010 at $415,000, followed by Calgary at $403,000 and Edmonton at $330,000.

Those six will be the only markets of the 23 in the survey to exceed the national average.

The average price of a home in Montreal, Canada's second largest urban centre, is forecast to be a paltry $272,000 in 2010.

But if you're looking for a real bargain, head east to Prince Edward Island, where the average price of a home is expected to remain at $150,000 for the third straight year.

Greater Vancouver home values "continued to edge upward in November as demand . . . remains well above seasonal norms," the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver said in a separate news release.

The board's benchmark price for all residential properties in Greater Vancouver increased 12.4 per cent in November to $557,384 from $495,704 in November 2008.

"This price, however, remains down 1.9 per cent from the most recent high point in the market in May 2008 when the residential benchmark price sat at $568,411," the board said.

Board president Scott Russell attributed the unseasonably high demand to low interest rates and the diversity of choice available in Greater Vancouver.

"Prospective homebuyers today have more options at different price levels than ever before, " Russell said.

The Greater Vancouver board said house sales in November were the third highest volume ever recorded in Greater Vancouver for that month.

The Fraser Valley Real Estate Board also logged a busier-than-normal November.

"Interest rates continue to be a strong motivator resulting in unseasonably high real-estate sales for this time of year," FVREB president Paul Penner said.

"We typically see both sales and listing activity slow in November as people start to get ready for the holidays and we did experience that on the listing side, but not in sales.

"This was the second busiest November Fraser Valley realtors have seen in 10 years."

The benchmark price of a detached home in October was $497,697, an increase of 6.5 per cent compared with November 2008, when it was $467,497.

("Prices to hit a national high" prepared by Andy Ivens/Vancouver Province)