Supply in Vancouver’s housing market is still piling up, and it looks like stubborn home sellers are partly to blame.

“We’re continuing to see an expectation gap between home buyers and sellers in Metro Vancouver. Sellers are often trying to get yesterday’s values for their homes while buyers are taking a cautious, wait-and-see approach,” says Ashley Smith, president of the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV).

Smith’s comments are included in REBGV’s Monthly Market Report for June.

In June, there were a total of 14,968 existing homes available for purchase throughout Metro Vancouver. That’s up 25.3 percent from the same month a year ago and an increase of 1.9 percent compared to May.

“Home buyers haven’t had this much selection to choose from in five years,” Smith added.

While some may be taking advantage of all that choice, sales activity continues to trend below previous years. In all, 2,077 homes changed hands last month in Metro Vancouver, declining 14.1 percent from June 2018 and 21.3 percent off the previous month’s total.

Despite the unwillingness of some to budge on list prices for Metro Vancouver homes, the selling prices are falling.

The benchmark price of a Metro Vancouver home sunk 9.6 percent annually to $998,700. It was down 0.8 percent from the previous month as well.

For condo apartments, the benchmark price was $654,700, an annual decline of 8.9 percent and a month-over-month decrease of 1.4 percent.

However, the benchmark price for detached homes was $1,423,500, which although down 10.9 percent on a year-over-year basis is up 0.1 percent over May.

“Buyers remain very cautious, and low-ball offers have become commonplace,” writes local realtor Steve Saretsky in separate commentary about the detached market.

“Similar to our message last month, entry level houses, particularly with mortgage helpers are not seeing nearly as much downwards pressure,” he continues.

Stubborn Vancouver Home Sellers Aren’t Dropping Their List Prices by Josh Sherman | Livabl