Lower Mainland real estate markets break record as first-time sales surge

Lured by the correction in home prices and low mortgage rates, first-timers are jumping into buy in numbers that are now rippling across the market as evidenced in July with record numbers of sales for the month in both Metro Vancouver and the Fraser Valley.

Metro Vancouver realtors racked up 4,114 sales through the Multiple Listing Service in July, the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver reported Wednesday, an 89-per-cent increase from July of a year ago, the period when sales were headed into their doldrums.

The benchmark price for the typical single-family home hit $711,702 in July, which is still down 5.5 per cent from July a year ago, but has risen some 10 per cent since the trough at the beginning of this year.