[URBAN NOTE] "Vancouver home sales drop nearly 33% as new tax takes hold"

[rfmcdonald]

The Globe and Mail's Brent Jang reports on the very substantial recent drop in real estate sales in Greater Vancouver.

Property sales in Greater Vancouver totalled 2,253 last month, down 32.6 per cent from a year earlier, as the housing market adjusted to the impact from the B.C. government’s tax on foreign buyers.

The benchmark price for detached houses, condos and town homes slipped 0.1 per cent in September, compared with August. The benchmark price, a representation of the typical property in an area, is up 28.9 per cent over the past year in the region, the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver said Tuesday.

“Changing market conditions are easing upward pressure on home prices in our region,” board president Dan Morrison said in a statement.

[. . .]

Metro Vancouver includes most of Greater Vancouver and also covers parts of other suburbs such as Surrey, which belongs to the Fraser Valley Real Estate Board.