This is my monthly look at the real estate market. Below is the official report from the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver.

BUYER ACTIVITY BRINGS GREATER STABILITY TO THE HOUSING MARKET

VANCOUVER, B.C. . May 4, 2009 .
With more buyers and fewer homes for sale in recent months, the Greater Vancouver housing market has entered a more moderate and balanced state.

For the sixth consecutive month, new listings for detached, attached and apartment properties declined in Greater Vancou- ver, down 33.7 per cent to 4,649 in April 2009 compared to April 2008, when 7,010 new units were listed. The total number of property listings on the Multiple Listing Service® (MLS®), while slightly down compared to last month, remains unchanged compared to the same period in 2008.

The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV) reports that residential property sales in Greater Vancouver totalled 2,963 in April 2009, a decline of eight per cent from the 3,218 sales recorded in April 2008, and an increase of 31 per cent compared to last month. “We’re seeing greater balance in the housing market, as evidenced by a strong sales to active listings ratio of over 19 per cent,” Scott Russell, REBGV president said. “The result is a relatively stable market in which homes are being realistically priced.”

“The bridge between buyer demand and housing supply is continuing to narrow, which, as we see, helps bring stability to home prices,” he said. “The trends in our housing market over the last couple of months offer a much more comfortable, historically normal set of conditions”.

Sales of detached properties declined eight per cent to 1,190 from the 1,293 detached sales recorded during the same period in 2008. The benchmark price, as calculated by the MLSLink Housing Price Index®, for detached properties declined 12.2 per cent from April 2008 to $675,268.

Sales of apartment properties in April 2009 declined 10.5 per cent to 1,179, compared to 1,317 sales in April 2008. The benchmark price of an apartment property declined 12.6 per cent from April 2008 to $340,203.

Attached property sales in April 2009 are down 2.3 per cent to 594, compared with the 608 sales in April 2008. The bench- mark price of an attached unit decreased 9.7 per cent between April 2008 and 2009 to $431,759.

METRO VANCOUVER BENCHMARK

The Vancouver Real Estate Board publishes a benchmark that tracks the price of a benchmark property across the region. There are three categories:

• Detached
  These are houses, sometimes called single family homes
• Attached
  This refers to townhouses and half duplexes.
• Apartments
  This means apartments within high or low rise buildings.

I have set out the benchmark prices across the region, with the annual percentage price rises in brackets and 3 year percentage rise in square brackets.

The top percentage price rise over the year is shown in bold. I have also marked the biggest fall in red.

The story is still of price drops pretty much across the board, which is no surprise. In homes (detached) West Vancouver did the worst and Pitt Meadows did the best - even edging into positive territory.

In attached properties (townhouses), South Delta did best, with Port Moody bringing up the rear.

And in apartments, where over-supply is most in evidence, prices continue to fall and not much honour is found in being the best (Port Moody) versus the worst (Coquitlam).

The increase in sales volumes that we have seen over the last month is a sure sign that buyers are taking advantage of these falling prices and the record low mortgage rates are an added incentive.

DETACHED BENCHMARK PRICES

• Detached Greater Vancouver $675,268 (-12.5%), [3yr: 8.7%]
• Burnaby $670,637 (-12.9%), [3yr: 6.2%]
• Coquitlam $590,718 (-11.2%), [3yr: 10.2%]
• South Delta $603,815 (-11.7%), [3yr: 9.8%]
• Maple Ridge $407,401 (-11.9%), [3yr: 5.8%]
• New Westminster $537,714 (-8.7%), [3yr: 8.8%]
• North Vancouver $782,388 (-14.3%), [3yr: 6.7%]
• Pitt Meadows $520,244 (8.2%), [3yr: 31.3%]
• Port Coquitlam $499,094 (-9.2%), [3yr: 10.9%]
• Port Moody $779,571 (-4.2%), [3yr: 46.2%]
• Richmond $682,124 (-11.4%), [3yr: 11%]
• Squamish $514,325 (-13.1%), [3yr: 24.7%]
• Sunshine Coast $434,597 (1.4%), [3yr: 16.4%]
• Vancouver East $608,174 (-12.1%), [3yr: 5.6%]
• Vancouver West $1,237,674 (-14.4%), [3yr: 11%]
• West Vancouver $1,126,620 (-29.2%), [3yr: -6.1%]

ATTACHED BENCHMARK PRICES

• Attached Greater Vancouver $431,759 (-9.7%), [3yr: 13.6%]
• Burnaby $425,994 (-7.5%), [3yr: 12.6%]
• Coquitlam $380,312 (-11%), [3yr: 9%]
• South Delta $450,297 (-3.8%), [3yr: 26.9%]
• Maple Ridge & Pitt Meadows $292,721 (-8.6%), [3yr: 14.6%]
• North Vancouver $529,314 (-12.2%), [3yr: 10.3%]
• Port Coquitlam $365,907 (-9.5%), [3yr: 7.7%]
• Port Moody $359,421 (-13.5%), [3yr: 11.5%]
• Richmond $429,472 (-8.1%), [3yr: 13.1%]
• Vancouver East $477,690 (-10%), [3yr: 18.5%]
• Vancouver West $641,206 (-12.2%), [3yr: 18.9%]

APARTMENT BENCHMARK PRICES

• Apartment Greater Vancouver $340,203 (-12.6%), [3yr: 9.9%]
• Burnaby $307,761 (-11.7%), [3yr: 12.5%]
• Coquitlam $253,532 (-15.6%), [3yr: 7.4%]
• South Delta $317,317 (-12.9%), [3yr: 16.4%]
• Maple Ridge & Pitt Meadows $231,435 (-12.5%), [3yr: 18.4%]
• New Westminster $267,428 (-11%), [3yr: 12%]
• North Vancouver $339,761 (-13.3%), [3yr: 5.5%]
• Port Coquitlam $225,927 (-13.3%), [3yr: 11.7%]
• Port Moody $278,878 (-10.7%), [3yr: 6.6%]
• Richmond $285,925 (-11.4%), [3yr: 10.3%]
• Vancouver East $294,674 (-11.1%), [3yr: 14.2%]
• Vancouver West $430,318 (-12.9%), [3yr: 8.6%]
• West Vancouver $554,780 (-17.6%), [3yr: 2.6%]