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Metro Vancouver home sales eclipsed 5,000 in March for the first time on record.Residential property sales in the region totaled 5,173 in March 2016, an increase of 27.4 per cent from the 4,060 sales recorded in March 2015 and an increase of 24 per cent compared to February 2016 when 4,172 homes sold.Last month’s sales were 56 per cent above the 10-year sales average for the month.“March wa…

Vancouver, BC – February 12, 2016. The British Columbia Real Estate Association (BCREA) reports that a total of 5,831 residential unit sales were recorded by the Multiple Listing Service® (MLS®) last month, up 33.2 per cent from January of last year. Total sales dollar volume was $4.39 billion in January, up 69.1 per cent compared to the previous year.The average MLS® residential price in the p…

Some good news for the Canadian economy this morning as Statistics Canada reported manufacturing sales increased 1.2 per cent in December, the second consecutive monthly advance.  Sales were led higher by gains in the motor vehicle, wood product and chemical product industries. However, for all of 2015, manufacturing sales were down 1.5 per cent, posting the first annual decline since 2009, as a…

Following a 1.7 per cent increase in November, Canadian retail sales disappointed in December, falling 2.2 per cent. Weakness in sales was widespread with 10 of 11 retail sub-sectors recording a decline in sales.  Given disappointing consumer spending in the final month of 2015, we estimate that growth the Canadian economy was approximately zero in the fourth quarter. In BC, retail sales fell 1.9…

Employment in Canada was essentially unchanged in January with the total number of employed Canadians dipping by 5,700 people. The national unemployment rate edged slightly higher from 7.1 to 7.2 per cent while the total number of hours worked, which is closely correlated with GDP growth, was up 1.2 per cent over the past 12 months.In BC, employment grew by a modest 1,200 job to break a string…

Vancouver, BC – February 25, 2016.  The BCREA Commercial Leading Indicator (CLI) broke a string of two consecutive declines, eking out a 0.1 point increase to an index value of 120.0 in the fourth quarter of 2015. On a year-over-year basis, the CLI was 0.4 per cent higher than in 2014.“Uncertainty in the global economy roiled financial and commodity markets in the second quarter,” said BCREA Ec…

The BCREA Economics Department forecasts that the number of homes changing hands on the Multiple Listing Service® will exceed 100,000 in 2015. That’s the third strongest unit sales figure on record and marks the first time since 2007 that BC home sales will exceed the ten-year average.While sales are expected to decrease somewhat in 2016, the forecast is still strong with an expectation of 93,7…

Home sales reached near record levels in November even as home listings began the traditional year-end decline.The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV) reports that residential property sales in Metro Vancouver reached 3,524 on the Multiple Listing Service® (MLS®) in November 2015. This represents a 40.1 per cent increase compared to the 2,516 sales recorded in November 2014, and a 3…

Employment in Canada declined by 36,000 jobs in November, largely as the result of losses in part-time work. The national unemployment rate edged 0.1 points higher to 7.1 per cent.  Total hours worked, which is strongly correlated with economic growth, is up 1.1 per cent over the past 12 months while total employment is up 0.7 per cent over that time period.In BC, employment fell by 1,400 j…