As we ring in the New year, an analysis of the REBGV’s Housing Price Index for apartment/condo’s on Vancouver Westside, including Downtown, shows that pricing has been flat for over two years now.

Resales values have likely been suppressed amid a large amount of new inventory coming to market; particularly in areas like Southeast False Creek and Cambie Corridor.

Here’s a snapshot of currently selling downtown condo projects in terms of inventory. Also included are projects likely to be released in the next 12 months. Overall, available inventory seems to be in healthy and balanced territory, though some larger upcoming projects scheduled to be offered in the next two years may have an impact on the market with well over 2,000 units.

An analysis of year to date resales for concrete condos less than 3 years old shows that average pricing is approx. $800 per SF.

At 3.1% growth since 2006, average pricing has outpaced inflation, but pricing has been relatively flat in 2013, up less than 1% year over year.

A year-over-year review of pricing for resales of concrete condos in Vancouver’s submarkets shows that most areas are showing flat prices amid stable sales levels during this period. The analysis used only condos built since 1998. Burnaby and Surrey both showed slight declines over this period, perhaps as a result of increased new highrise product in these town centre areas.

Source: MLS

Nearly a quarter of condos in Vancouver are empty or occupied by non-residents in some dense areas of downtown, a signal that investors play a significant role in the city’s housing market.

And the city overall has a much higher rate of empty apartments and houses than other Canadian cities, with a rate closer to places like New York and San Francisco at the height of their mortgage crisis in 2010.

Downtown, the rate is so high that it’s as though there were 35 towers at 20 storeys apiece – empty.

That’s the latest discovery that adjunct UBC planning professor Andrew Yan made when he analyzed 2011 census numbers to try to add more information to the contentious debate over whether Vancouver is turning into a high-end resort or offshore investors’ holding tank.

Read more: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/home-and-garden/real-estate/vancouvers-vacancies-point-to-investors-not-residents/article10044403/