the rennie landscape - Spring 2021

housing

05. housing

After years of elevated levels of condo inventory, completed and unabsorbed inventory has dwindled—much to the chagrin of buyers.

The heady days of residential real estate across Canada generally, but most specifically here in Metro Vancouver, that prevailed back in 2016 could be described in many ways, with resale prices (particularly for detached homes) hitting all-time highs and sales count records being set month after month, to name a couple. Another way in which the buyer euphoria of that time played out was in whittling down the number of completed and unabsorbed (unsold) condos in the region. For example, while there were approximately 2,000 new, unsold condos available to buyers at any given time in each year between 2011 and 2014, that number fell to 1,525 in 2015 and further to 806 in 2016. By 2017 there were only 283 completed and unabsorbed condos across all of Metro NOT CHOCKABLOCK WITH CONDO STOCK

Vancouver, before the number rose slightly to between 500 and 600 in 2019 and 2020. As of the beginning of 2021 there were fewer than 400 completed and unabsorbed condos regionally, which is 69% below the past-decade average. In the context of a resale market that is extremely tight (current resale inventory is 20% below the past-decade average while demand has soared to near all-time highs), this further reinforces the reality that there are limited options for buyers at the moment. With pre-sale inventory expected to rise through 2021 as numerous projects that had been slated to launch in prior years finally come to market, buyers might be wise to consider a less competitive path into ownership (or investment).

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