B.C. millennials are jumping on the chance to buy homes, after a pause in the market early in the pandemic according to a new survey from Royal LePage.

Interest rates have dropped making borrowing costs lower than theyB次元官网网址檝e been in decades.

B次元官网网址淚B次元官网网址檓 getting millennial clients come with pre-approved fixed five year mortgages of 1.5 per cent. I have never seen rates that low,B次元官网网址� said Vancouver-based real estate agent Adil Dinani.

WhatB次元官网网址檚 unique this time is that house prices also dipped, so for once in a blue moon home buyers got low prices and low mortgage rates.

Dinani called it a rare alignment.

B次元官网网址淚tB次元官网网址檚 given an opportunity to buyers who thought they were priced out, or for whom the prices were unattainable. ItB次元官网网址檚 not pushing folks into something they wouldnB次元官网网址檛 have done, itB次元官网网址檚 just letting them get in sooner than they would have expected,B次元官网网址� he said.

In the first few months of the pandemic, everything slowed down, including home sales. Properties that were already listed dragged on while people waited to see what the COVID-19 fallout would be.

And so inventory piled up, and interest rates stayed low.

B次元官网网址淚n the beginning people were just thinking about how to manage life, let alone buy a home. But now that theyB次元官网网址檙e feeling more comfortable about things, including job stability, theyB次元官网网址檙e getting into the market. I havenB次元官网网址檛 seen this segment of the market so active in probably three years,B次元官网网址� Dinani said.

By now, he says the condominium market has bottomed out, and detached homes are already high again B次元官网网址� in some areas as high as the 2017 B次元官网网址渆uphoricB次元官网网址� market.

Royal LePage predicts prices will be nine per cent higher, on aggregate, than last year, and DinaniB次元官网网址檚 already seeing price half-way to that mark.

While low interest rates remain a good opportunity for buyers, he warns against making emotional the fear of missing out. Usually a term used to describe missing out on social events, Dinani said heB次元官网网址檚 starting to see it where first time homebuyers are being outbid of three, four, five even six times before finally getting to close the sale.

B次元官网网址淵ou almost get fatigued to a certain point where youB次元官网网址檙e just like, letB次元官网网址檚 just get this done.B次元官网网址�

The survey, which interviewed 2,000 subjects, found that almost half of 25 to 35 year-olds in B.C. already own their own home, and a quarter of them bought their first home during the pandemic.

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