A softening real estate market means scraping together a downpayment for a home has gotten slightly cheaper.
A new report from Zoocasa says a downpayment for a detached home in Coquitlam is now $234,660, down $20,920 from two years ago. The cost fell $14,400 in Port Moody and $3,380 in Port Coquitlam.
Penelope Graham, who compiled the data, said values were based on the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver's benchmark home price while the downpayment amounts were calculated based on a 5% for homes valued at or under $500,000, 10% for homes between $500,000 and $1 million, and 20% for homes over $1 million. She added that the two-year timeline tracks changes in real estate taxes and federal mortgage stress tests implemented in late 2017 and early 2018.
"After these new changes were put in place throughout the tail end of 2017 and start of 2018, the market underwent a notable shift as both buyers and sellers became skittish about searching for, or listing, home sales," she wrote. "That led to considerable market chill, with sales plunging by upwards of 30% year over year until well into 2019, accompanied by softening prices."
The Tri-Cities was far from seeing the biggest declines.
According to the analysis, the cost of a downpayment on a detached home in Surrey fell $127,090, while a similar drop was seen in West Vancouver ($119,500) and the city of Vancouver's west side ($117,320).
But attached properties were a different story over the last two years, particularly in Coquitlam, where the cost of a 10% downpayment on condos and townhouses has increased from $27,530 to $28,900. Port Coquitlam saw a $650 drop from $23,400 to to $22,750 while Port Moody fell $2,110 from $41,830 to $39,720.
