July was a red hot month for the BC housing market as sales rocketed up by nearly 27 percent over the previous year.

All told, there were 10,090 homes sold across the province last month, with seven regions, including Victoria, Greater Vancouver and Fraser Valley seeing sales volume increases of over 20 percent.

Robust sales activity paired with a downward trend in active listings led to the average home price seeing a close to 13 percent increase over the same month in 2019, according to data published by the British Columbia Real Estate Association (BCREA) last week. The average sale price was $770,810 in July, up from $682,702 a year before.

“The strong recovery in sales activity continued in July,” said BCREA Chief Economist Brendon Ogmundson, in a media release.

“Increased demand for more living space combined with an undersupplied market is producing significant upward pressure on home prices, particularly in the market for single-family homes,” he continued.

The increase in average price combined with the significant rise in sales activity meant July’s total sales dollar volume was up 43 percent to $7.8 billion.

Perhaps most astonishingly, with July’s figures included, year-to-date sales dollar volume is now up 8.4 percent to $32.5 billion even with the major market slowdown through the spring.

According to BCREA, the regions that saw the largest average price increases in July were Powell River (up 30.7 percent), Victoria (up 25. percent) and BC Northern (up 16.5 percent).

Strong Sales Recovery Pushes BC Home Prices Up 13% in July by Sean MacKay | Livabl