Women buying in - new BC homebuyers

Women in British Columbia are leading a trend that sees new homebuyers taking advantage of falling home prices and low interest rates, Royal LePage Real Estate Services says.

Women account for 60 per cent of first-time homebuyers in B.C., Royal LePage said in a report released yesterday.

"First-time buyers in Vancouver are favouring condominiums and townhomes," the report said.

"However, an increasing number of entry-level buyers is finding affordable detached homes outside the city in the Fraser Valley suburbs."

Across B.C., 40 per cent of prospective new buyers plan to acquire a "fixer-upper," the real-estate company said.

Nationally, Royal LePage found that first-timers are back in the housing game after having vacated the market late last year.

According to Royal LePage's survey of Canadians likely to buy a home within the next three years, lower prices are the most popular reason for considering a purchase, cited as the most important factor by 33 per cent of respondents.

Royal LePage said new buyers waited out the recent downturn until they thought prices and interest rates had bottomed out.

Royal LePage vice-president Dianne Usher said first-time buyers have scooped up excess inventory in recent months, helping prices rebound from lows last year.

First-time buyers occupy anywhere between 30 and 35 per cent of the overall market, Usher said.

Their impact is most pronounced in Canada's bigger cities, such as Vancouver and Toronto, she said.

Younger people are most drawn to large urban areas, and such areas contain a healthy supply of the condominiums popular among first-time homebuyers, Usher said.

A separate report released in B.C. yesterday will be closely watched by potential first-timers wondering when to jump into the market. The B.C. Real Estate Association has revised its home-price forecast upwards, reflecting an expectation of greater price stability for the rest of the year.

The average B.C. house price should fall eight per cent to $420,600 in 2009, instead of the 13 per cent originally forecast, it said.

("Women buying in" Source: Vancouver Province)