ne” te eeeocv oases YOU might have noticed an article in the Vancouver Sun last week about increases in home prices in the 1990s for major Canadian cities. According to the article, the price of an average home in Vancouver rose 29% between 1989 and 1999. Vim sure this raised the question in some people's minds abour changes in North Shore housing prices. Homeowners are always interested in che change in housing prices as it gives them an idea as to what kind of a return they are getting fram this huge investment they have. There is also an intense interest in the future outlook for housing prices as this will affect the strategy and timing of both home buyers and sellers. Unfortunately, it is difficult to get an accurate measure of the change in housing prices and, of course, it is even harder to get an accurate forecast. The most commonly avail- abie measure of housing prices is average selling price. However, as I have point- ed out before in this column, a change in average selling price does not measure the change in the price of hous- ing. Average selling price can change, not only because rices change, but also cause the mix of higher and lower priced homes that are sold, changes. As a result, average selling rrice can be very different in different months, even though the underlying price of housing may not have changed ar all. Basically, comparing average selling price in one month to a previous month tells us nothing about the change in Trent pelbe home economics the price of housing. T think most of the read- ers of this column appreciate this, although judging by the continued misuse of this sta- tistic, apparently some peopie in the print media don't. Looking act the trend of average selling price over an extended period of time will give us an, approximation of the trend in price levels, but we still have to be careful as this trend can be influenced by changes in the mix of the housing that is sold. One other measure of housing prices that we can turn to is the MLS Housing Price Index. This ig a statistic produced monthly by the Greater Vancouver Real Estate Board that is designed to measure the price of “typi- cal” housing in much the same way as the consumer price index measures prices of goods and services. As with average selling price, there is a lot of month- ly variation in the MLS Housing Price Index that is not reflective of price changes. However by ignor- ing the month-to-month fluctuations, and looking at the trend of the price index over time, we should be able to get a good idea of what is happening to the price of housing. This week we are going to look at graphs of the MLS Housing Price Index for West Vancouver to get an idea of what has happened to hous- ing prices there over the last three years and what might happen in the next year. Next week we will under- take ihe same exercise tor North Vancouver The MLS Housing Price Index measures the price of a “typical” home. The rypical West Van detached home in the study has four bedrooms, three bathrooms, is 27 years old and has 2,749 square feet of living space. The benchmark price of this home for the year 1999 was $550,448. The typical West Van attached home has three bedcooms and three bathrooms, is seven vears oll and has 2,314 square feet of living space. It hay a bench: mark price of $549,181). The typical apartment has two bedreoms, two bathrooms, is 7 years old and has 1,035 square feet of living space and has a benchmark price of $315,292. if your home is not too much different from one of the typical homes then you can use the price index to get an idea of how the value of your home has changed. Friday, January 74, 2000 ~ However if your home is sig- nificantly different —- tor example if itis worth owice as much as the typical home — then the price index may not be meaningful for vour situa- tion. The accompanying graph shows the MES Housing Price Index for West Vancouver detached and attached homes and for apartments over the past three years. Note that this measure is an index number having a base of 100 in 1991. Therefore the figures on the vertical axis represent the Mountain views A snow-covered Grouse Mountain provides the North Shore with an inspiring scenic winier backdrop. AT A GLANCE... Pee Serer eveoneeeeneenrTeLeseoereanrenseee ADDRESS: 1318 Cammeray LOT SIZE: 150° x 150° irreg. Onerensccereceseneccones INTERIGR SIZE: 7009 SQ. FT. Peccererenessvesemesosenens NUMBER OF BEDROOMS: 6 SC receveceavenere NUMBER OF FLOORS: 4 Om acwreccverceresescceavecner eee sascccesscos the family. All North Shore News - 43 price index, not price levels. The top line on the graph is tor attached homes and it shows that prices have been up and down over the past three years but the trend had been basically flat. The second line is for detached homes, and igner- ing the monthly “noise,” you can see that the index declined through 1997 and 1998 bur recovered about half of that decline in 1999. Since the index is current- ly around the 130 level, we See Detached page G4 Attractive Home with | Excellent View Unique custom designed tome with room for all area of We. major rooms facing view. Beautifully updated. Room for nanny and inlaws. Attractive pool. Very desirable Chartwell st Vancouver. Close to schools. 4 ASKING PRICE: $1,399,000 OPEN HOUSE: Sunday 2-4 ; POOR e OE OER O RECO ORE OE EHUD EECEROR ED SESCOONES LISTING AGENT: Anne Geary, 988-8000 ao wae car garage. See all the features at the open house on Sunday. SPECIAL FEATURES: Excellent view of ocean i _ & downtown & lovely sunsets. e Geary ‘Re/Max Crast Realty