Vancouver housing market adapts to pandemic

The coronavirus may have changed the way we live, for now, but it hasn’t changed the need to do business and the desire to find a new home.

While social distancing has taken some getting used to, it has resulted in some very creative – and successful – new ways of conducting business, according to Scott Brown (pictured above), the president and CEO of Fifth Avenue Real Estate Marketing, a company that specializes in the marketing and sales of new residential communities for developers throughout B.C. For Brown, while it’s not business as usual, adapting to the circumstances has meant positive changes for his team.

“We have had to be more adaptable than ever before and it has strangely energized our team,” Brown tells New Home + Condo Guide. “I am grateful for our staff response and proud of them. Necessity is truly the mother of invention and we have adopted new and enhanced uses of technology quickly. I truly believe that when this passes, many of these approaches will continue on and be part of the new and next normal.”

Some of the technology being incorporated in Fifth Avenue's daily exchanges with clients include everything from Zoom to online tours and fulfillment internet-based services. While this style of doing business is meant for the current situation, Brown says when things open up, new-home buyers and investors will want to keep some of the new practices.

“I think consumers will still want to visit sites in person, but I think they are going to expect more online tools and guided technology-based human interaction prior to agreeing to visit,” he explains. “We could see more online traffic and less actual site visits. I also think the expectations of human interactions will grow. To offset the high-tech experience, consumers will want to ensure the utmost professionalism and service or more positive ‘high touch’ in-person experiences. Finally, I do expect consumers to prefer one-to-one interaction and will shy away from crowds and large events through 2020.”

For anyone wanting to get into the new-home market, Brown offers up these tips on how to go about it, and what to be mindful of.

“Buyers should start by clarifying their purchase and/or investment goals and objectives and needs for the next one to five years,” he says. “Then get the best mortgage / financing advice you can. With low interest rates, consumers may have considerably more buying power now than they realize or actually did have last year. If they think prices are going to increase at some point, which they certainly tend to, consider buying more home now than you might have previously considered. Lastly, I do suggest having a contingency plan financially in case something like this was to occur in the future.”

Looking forward, Brown says the good thing is that B.C. and Metro Vancouver have been proactive in its response to COVID – 19. “We have frankly been fortunate. I expect the largest market area (and the majority of market areas it is comprised of) in the province to recover quickly relative to other cities and areas like in 2008, but the high-end or luxury market will recover less quickly than the market for relatively more affordable product in growing typically more development-friendly suburban markets.

Good news and a ray of hope on the home-buying horizon.