A Royal LePage housing market forecast for 2021 has the Vancouver region pegged for the second-highest home price increase out of the nine major Canadian cities included.

The real estate franchisor is predicting a nine percent increase to home prices across the Vancouver region next year. If this forecast materializes, the average price of a Vancouver home would be $1,262,600 by the end of the year, up from $1,158,400 at the end of 2020.

This would be both the highest average home price of any major Canadian city and the second-highest percentage increase projected for the country, behind only Ottawa’s 11.5 percent increase forecast for 2021.

“I am confident we will continue to see prices rise next year. Vancouver has proven to be a rather resilient market, with high demand and quite low inventory,” said Royal LePage Sterling Realty’s Randy Ryalls in a media release accompanying the forecast.

“In March, we couldn’t have imagined this is where we’d be today, but despite public health concerns, consumer confidence remains high. With very attractive mortgage rates and the promise of a vaccine on the horizon, demand is likely to remain strong,” he continued.

Broken down into property type, the average price for a Vancouver standard two-storey home is forecast to rise 10 percent to $1,671,700. The condo market is expected to see a more modest 3.5 percent average price increase to $684,300 by the end of 2021, according to Royal LePage.

Ryalls said that low supply, robust demand and bidding wars will continue to power two-storey home price gains while strong demand will push prices higher even in the better-supplied condo market.

“We are seeing multiple offers on almost every reasonably-priced detached listing. There simply isn’t enough inventory to meet the demand,” said Ryalls.

“A balanced Vancouver market has about 15,000 active listings available. Right now, we’re sitting at roughly 10,000. If we reach the end of January without an injection of inventory, we will continue to see upward pressure on prices in the spring. I expect a strong seller’s market in 2021.”

Vancouver Home Prices to Rise 9% in 2021, Second-Highest Increase in Canada by Sean MacKay | Livabl