Vancouver, BC – March 13, 2019. The British Columbia Real Estate Association (BCREA) reports that a total of 4,533 residential unit sales were recorded by the Multiple Listing Service® (MLS®) in February, a decline of 27% from the same month last year. The average MLS® residential price in the province was $678,625, a decline of 9.3% from February 2018. Total sales dollar volume was $3.08 billion, a 33.8% decline from the same month last year.

“Prospective homebuyers continue to be sidelined by the mortgage stress test,” said Brendon Ogmundson, BCREA Deputy Chief Economist. “As a consequence, and despite a strong BC labour market, sales remained slow in February.”

Total MLS® residential active listings increased 36.5% to 30,891 units compared to the same month last year. The ratio of sales to active residential listings declined from 27.4% to 14.7% over the same period.

“Falling mortgage rates should provide some relief for homebuyers, providing a small boost to affordability heading into the spring,” added Ogmundson.

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