Record-setting June for Richmond real estate-2015

Record-setting June for Richmond real estate

238 detached homes exchanged hands at a median price of $1.229 million,

June was a hot one, both in terms of temperatures and the pace of real estate transactions.

According to the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver, last month was the hottest selling June on record, and it was the second-highest month overall.

"Demand in our detached home market continues to drive activity across Metro Vancouver," said board president Darcy McLeod. "There were more detached home sales in the region last month than we've seen during the month of June in more than 10 years."

Richmond's real estate market was sizzling too.

238 detached homes exchanged hands at a median price of $1.229 million, a rise of more than 43 per cent compared to the number of homes sold in the same month in 2014, with the median price up nearly 20 per cent in that same span.

Townhouse sales were up only marginally, rising 3.5 per cent, with the median selling price jumping 5.7 per cent to $568,500.

Condo sales rose sharply, up 34.8 per cent, though the median selling price dropped 8.7 per cent to $339,900.

Region wide, the number of residential property sales reached 4,375, a 28.4 per cent increase in June compared to a year earlier, and up 7.9 per cent compared to May.

"Housing market activity comes in cycles; we're in an up cycle right now that looks similar to the mid-2000s," McLeod said. "It would be easy to point to one factor that's causing this cycle, but the truth is that it's a number of different factors."

McLeod referred to low interest rates, a declining supply of detached homes, a growing population, a provincial economy that's outperforming the rest of Canada, pent-up demand and the fact this is a highly-desirable region in which to live.

While there's a steady stream of new listings entering the market, the overall number of homes for sale isn't keeping up with buyer demand, McLeod said.