It looks like there’s still a lot of pent-up demand left.

Perhaps it’s strong enough to propel the real-estate market in Greater Vancouver to a new peak.

A new report by Dexter Realty indicates that sales so far in January are headed for a record high.

The Vancouver realty firm counts 977 sales from January 1 to January 15, exceeding the 583 units sold so far at this time in January 2020 and 396 sold at mid-month in January 2019.

This is signifcant for Kevin Skipworth, partner, broker, and chief economist with Dexter Realty.

“The number of sales so far in January are almost twice what they were last January and almost three times what they were in January 2019 at the mid-point of those months,” Skipworth wrote.

Skipworth added that while “more new listings coming on to the market this year, it just is not enough to satisfy the demand that continues to be present in Metro Vancouver’s real estate market”.

Sales to listings ratio is at 45 percent at present, compared to 19 percent in January 2020.

In the report, Dexter Realty noted that there are only 8,600 active listings in Greater Vancouver.

The number represents a lower level compared to the 8,870 listings at this point in 2020, and 10,183 at the mid-point of January 2019.

It can mean only one thing.

“This is going to put pressure on prices to rise and continue the pattern of multiple offers,” Skipworth wrote.

And as Skipworth stated, the “race is on”. 

Want a breakdown? The numbers are found here.