House sales fall across Vancouver

The city of Vancouver has been one of the hottest markets for real estate in Canada for some time but activity has started to cool in recent months. Accord to the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver residential real estate sales throughout June dropped to their lowest level in ten years and declined by more than 17 per cent from the previous month. But despite the drop in actual sales house prices across the region remained strong and are still 1.7 per cent higher than the same time a year ago. Local real estate specialists say that buyers today have a greater choice of available properties and less competition from other potential buyers. In a breakdown comparison of property sales against June 2011 the number detached homes sold fell from 1,470 to 920, attached homes dropped from 525 in June 2011 to 415 last month and apartment sales fell to 1,026 from 1,266 twelve months ago. Experts are waiting to see if new mortgage rules which include cutting the maximum amortization period for government insured loans from 30 years to 25 years have any effect activity levels.