Real estate markets race to record July home sales

Home sales in the Lower Mainland burst out of their long slump in July as first-time homebuyers, lured by lower prices and rock-bottom interest rates, flooded into the market.

Paul Penner, president of the Fraser Valley board, said 37 per cent of buyers in the July market were first-timers, compared with 33 per cent in June.

"That volume creates a significant ripple effect as the sellers of those homes move up," Penner said in a news release.

Jake Moldown, president-elect of the Vancouver real estate board, concurred.

He said first-time buyers who entered the market during the boom a couple of years ago now feel comfortable moving up the property ladder.

"They understand what a mortgage is and they're comfortable with their payments, and now they're looking to step up," Moldown said.

Vanessa Brown, a library technician at Langara College, is one of those buyers.

She traded a one-bedroom condo at 56th Avenue and Fraser Street in Vancouver, which she bought five years ago for $123,500 and recently sold for $196,000, for a $365,000 two-bedroom unit at Seventh Avenue and Main Street.

"I figured when the market dipped a bit, even though I would be sacrificing a bit of money on the sale of my apartment, I would have more to gain as I moved up the market," she said.

B.C.'s employment picture, especially in Vancouver, has shown signs of stabilizing with the addition of more full-time jobs in recent months after a period of losses, said Carol Frketich, regional economist for Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp..

---