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WelcomeHomeYVR - Real estate with Katharine Reynolds
Hello and welcome to my February 2025 newsletter!
I’m very excited to be a practicing REALTOR with Oakwyn Realty working in all areas of Greater Vancouver, I appreciate you joining me on the this journey.
February has finally brought some snow & with it sunshine and hopes of spring. Anyone ordering seeds yet? I personally can’t wait to get out in the garden!
In this issue I’ll recap the January Housing Market, touch on the (maybe??) US tariffs & what that could mean for our local housing market, I'll spotlight the BEST (IMO) bagel place in the lower mainland & I’ve also got a sneak peak of a lovely family home coming soon to the Central Lonsdale neighbourhood of North Vancouver. If you’re thinking of buying or selling please get in touch, I’m here to help!
January 2025 Market Stats
Sellers came back to the market in January 2025 with a 46% increase in listings compared to January 2024. The entire market seems to be waking up with strong sales this January 8.8% higher than January 2024. Although listings have had a sharp uptake in numbers, the slump in good inventory in 2024 was a large factor to the lower sales volumes across the board as there just wasn’t much available. It’s expected that the increased inventory coupled with a pent up buyers demand should keep pricing and sales steady in the first quarter of 2025. The British Columbia Realtors Association just released their forecast which calls for modest price increases of around 4.5% for 2025 after 2 very slow years. There is still a significant amount of people who have been riding the market out during the last two years waiting to sell, or have been sitting on the sidelines waiting for rates to decrease and inventory levels to increase before buying.
"In the three months preceding January, we’ve watched buyer demand gain momentum, but it appears that momentum is now shifting toward sellers to start the new year. Even with this increase in new listing activity, sales continue to outpace last years’ figures, signalling some buyer appetite remains after the upswing that finished off 2024."
Andrew Lis, GVR director of economics and data analytics
There is much more inventory on the market now but good properties in desirable locations are still selling quickly and often in multiple offer situations. Prices have held steady through 2024 and early 2025 with very marginal increases which has increased buyer confidence along with lower interest rates. The market is balanced enough that both buyers and sellers can come away with good outcomes, and without the crazy of the market a few years ago. Developers have mostly sidelined now due to rising costs of labour, materials and land + huge increases in municipal and provincial fees and taxes. This means in a few years time there will be very little fresh stock of new builds, which should increase demand and prices in 2027 and beyond. Buyers are mostly looking for homes at the moment instead of the investment buyers that drove the market for several years.
Sneak Peak!
Coming Mid February, a central Lonsdale charmer!
Close to all the action yet quiet and peaceful, this home has a beautiful back deck and backyard with a gorgeous view of the mountains. 5 Bedroom/2 bath, 1897 Sq feet house on a 5586 Sq ft lot. Please get in touch for more details!
I’m Katharine!
I’m a licensed REALTOR with Oakwyn Realty based in North Vancouver working in all areas of Greater Vancouver. I come from a 26 year career as a production designer in the film industry & the skills I acquired translate beautifully to real estate.
I have a strong knowledge of client relations, construction/design practices, marketing and financial management. I work extremely well under pressure and love to find creative solutions to any challenge. Please get in touch in you’d like to chat real estate!
Tariffs, Tariffs, Tariffs…to be or not to be!
6 weeks in to 2025 and Brian Ogmundson is already proven wrong…certainly in politics and it remains to be seen in real estate! If you remember in my last newsletter I quoted Brian as saying we were in for a boring year. 2025 has been anything but…Trudeau resigned, parliament is prorogued, Trump came into power, Elon Musk is EVERYWHERE, there will be tariffs! Wait, no there won’t be tariffs! But maybe there will be tariffs???? Bonds go down, bonds go up, Bank of Canada reduces our overnight rate to 3%. Not boring!
The looming threat of tariffs have many industries understandably rattled. High unemployment numbers could affect our local real estate market with banks tightening qualifications and wage insecurity keeping people sidelined. If this happens the Bank of Canada will be put in a position of stimulating the economy, which means pressure to lower interest rates to potentially 1-1.5% depending on the amount of the tariffs and how long they are in place. This should keep our real estate market stable or even booming as we saw during the pandemic. If the tariffs don’t come into play, or are reduced to say 5% (rather then 25%) it would be very sustainable according to most economist & nothing would change much for interest rate predictions for the the end of 2025 which are currently sitting in the 2.5-2.75% range. The public sentiment has certainly shifted to keeping our economy local and investing in our local markets which bods well for building more sustainable communities. I like to look at the bright side of things and to me this is the bright side…I’m looking forward to seeing how people creatively put this into action and would love to hear from you about what you’re changing in your purchasing habits.
Did you know?
If you’re selling your property I can assist in staging and decluttering your space as well as do a front of house refresh. If you’re buying I can assist you in making sure your current furniture will work and assist in placement. I’m offering this service free of charge for all of 2025!
Referral Offer for 2025
I’d really love to work with people just like you! Send me your referrals of friends, coworkers or family…if your referral results in a completed purchase or sale I'll send you a $500 referral fee as an appreciation of your support. Please call me directly or send your referrals via a group text to 604-831-3616 - include a brief intro of who you're referring and what they’re looking for, thank you!
Local Spotlight - Mount Royal Bagels
Ok this is going years back but a long time ago I lived in Victoria in the Fernwood neighbourhood…there was a lot of Nirvana on the radio and everyone wore flannel if that’s painting a picture. My absolute favourite place to go was called Mount Royal Bagels, they operated out of a hole in the wall down the street from where i lived and every morning they had the most amazing selection of freshly boiled bagels which was something I had NEVER seen before. Imagine my suprise when, 18 years later I moved to North Vancouver and there was a Mount Royal Bagels operating out of tiny shop and it was JUST AS GOOD! Maybe even better (or maybe I was just so happy to find it in North Vancouver!). In fact, this North Vancouver location is the original one. They not only have bagels but also a selection of house made savoury cream cheeses (smoked salmon, sun dried tomato are favourites) and salmon lox as well as Parallel 49 coffee beans. You can order online, which is a good idea as they sell out early almost every day. $16 for a dozen and $8 for cream cheese, it’s good value for the quality. The shop is set in the quaint little Queensbury market area between Keith Road and 3rd street in Moodyville North Vancouver, I encourage you to check it out, flannel not required ;)
*Images from Mount Royal Bagel Instagram page, give them a follow!*
Hours Tuesday-Saturday 8am-3pm, Sunday 8am-2pm Closed Monday
https://sites.google.com/view/mountroyalbagel/home
701 Queensbury Ave North Vancouver BC 778-999-1009
www.welcomehomeyvr.com
kr@welcomehomeyvr.com
604-831-3616
This newsletter is intended to give basic information about the Vancouver real estate market and should not be referred upon as fact as the market is constantly changing. This newsletter is not intended to breach any existing agency relationship.