Vancouver home sales down 14 per cent in October from last year

VANCOUVER – Vancouver-area home sales dropped 14.3 per cent in October compared with a year earlier while the benchmark price was down 3.4 per cent.

Greater Vancouver Realtors says sales in the region totalled 2,255 homes, which was 14.5 per cent below the 10-year seasonal average.

New listings of 5,438 were down a slight 0.3 per cent from a year earlier but still 16.3 per cent above the 10-year average.

Total listings of 16,393 were up 13.2 per cent from last year, leaving the sales-to-active listings ratio at 14.2 per cent. Historically, prices have come under pressure when the ratio falls below 12 per cent.

The composite benchmark price for all residential properties was $1,132,500, down 0.8 per cent from September.

The benchmark price for detached homes was $1,916,400, down 4.3 pe