2021 roared with activity, screamed for supply

Who would have thought that 2021 would have brought such a robust level of pre-sale activity? Equally, it proved to us that there is an extreme lack of supply in the Greater Vancouver marketplace. Despite the continuance of a global pandemic, our province witnessed incredible demand for housing, and pre-sales across all regions saw overwhelming activity. As a result, housing supply has become a scarce resource. The scarcer it becomes, the higher the price points accelerate.

A combination of market fundamentals is at play here. Generational low mortgage rates, lack of supply, and the newly adopted work-home relationship powered people’s purchasing decisions. This year, we saw many buyers looking farther to secondary markets like Coquitlam, Langley, Kelowna and Squamish as they became pushed out of price points in Greater Vancouver. In turn, price points in those regions have also risen, with pre-sale developments that typically took a few years to sell out, now selling out in a matter of days or weeks.

Secondary markets were on fire

Because resale saw such limited supply across many regions, buyers have become more patient with their choices. They’re also understanding more of the benefits of buying a pre-sale property. Although it may not be complete until a few years ahead, pre-sale is giving buyers more choice to decide on location, on finishings and amenities. As a result, pre-sale developments across the province are selling out faster than ever.

We saw this at Caban by Cressey in Kelowna, where its entire 120 condominiums sold out in 24 hours of launching. We’re seeing this at Eastin by Essence Properties in Langley, with over 90 percent sold in its first weekend. The last 12 months have truly proven to be an incredibly active year for our pre-sale market, and one that exceeded our predictions made at the beginning of 2021.

Back in April, we made bold predictions

Earlier this year, we anticipated that we would see double-digit growth in most pre-sale markets. We knew that developments were coming back to market after a slump in 2017 through to 2019, yet it still would not be enough to satisfy demand. Our prediction was that there would continue to be upward pressure on housing prices across Greater Vancouver. We now know that this year’s market activity far exceeded our predictions, and this pressure for more supply is only going to continue as we look to 2022.

Our region desperately needs more housing

With projected immigration of 1.2 million new Canadians expected to land in the next three years, we need housing now more than ever. Remember, 2021 was an active market without this influx of new immigration. As borders continue to reopen, our real estate markets will witness upward pressure on all home types across many of our regions.

We will continue to remain blue chip real estate

Our nation and province are of the most sought-after places to live and invest in. Despite the hardships we’ve endured this year, from catastrophic drought and wildfires to the more recent devastating rain events, we prove to be resilient, time and time again. Our Canadian values remain strong, as does our real estate market for 2022.