How did Vancouver real estate holdings compare to other investments in 2018?

Home values in Vancouver fell 1.7 percent in 2018, so other investment strategies were better bets than the city's real estate, according to Toronto-based real estate website Zoocasa. The site, which compared property prices in three major Canadian cities to three other kinds of holdings, found that, on average, Vancouverites would...

By The Editors / January 11, 2019

New study compares three different types of investment

Home values in Vancouver fell 1.7 percent in 2018, so other investment strategies were better bets than the city‘s real estate, according to Toronto-based real estate website Zoocasa.

The site, which compared property prices in three major Canadian cities to three other kinds of holdings, found that, on average, Vancouverites would have gained more last year from the S&P Canada Aggregate Bond Index (up 1.5 percent year-over-year), or a high-interest savings account (plus 1.1 percent), than real estate (down 1.7 percent).

However, real estate in Vancouver did top the third type of investment studied—the S&P/TSX Composite Index, which tumbled 11.6 percent in 2018.

When it comes to property, Vancouver paled in comparison to the two other cities in the survey: Calgary, where average real estate values dipped only 0.9 percent last year, and Toronto, which saw a 2.1-percent gain.