Vancouver Condo Flipping On the Rise Is a Sign of The Times
The number of houses being flipped is generally a pretty good indicator of how much speculation there is in a housing market. When prices are rising there’s plenty of liquidity and it seems there’s always another buyer willing to pay a higher price. Flipping a house becomes perceived as risk free. Currently we are seeing strong evidence of this in the Vancouver real estate market. I ran the numbers back in June 2017, but here are the updated numbers. For simplicity I have quantified a flip as a home that has been bought and re sold within 24 months.
Vancouver Condo Flipping Hits 9 Year High
With just a few weeks left in the year, there have been 685 Vancouver condos flipped this year. That’s a staggering 74% increase from the year previous. 
Vancouver Detached Flipping Is Dead
Vancouver detached prices are softening. Sellers are slashing prices, and buyer FOMO is non existent. With that, house flipping has died. Midway through December there have only been 201 houses flipped, a 17 year low. You’ll notice that peak flipping activity was set back in 2015 for this latest housing boom. 
A Reminder That Real Estate Is Cyclical
A friendly reminder that real estate is cyclical. Despite recent belief, house prices don’t go up in a vertical line forever. Further, speculation, foreign buyers, and euphoria are part of every housing boom. As you’ll see, record house flipping activity in the Vancouver Real Estate market actually occurred back in 2007. 
