House prices in Richmond continued to balloon in early 2022 with the most recent home-price index showing single-family homes at about $2.18 million.
According to a report going to city council, single-family homes in Richmond are up 25 per cent compared to a year ago and are selling faster.
Not only were single-family home prices up, so were townhouses, with the benchmark price at $1.1 million – up 27 per cent in a year – and apartments, which were at about $828,000, up 19 per cent from a year ago.
The home-index price for a single-family home in Richmond was slightly higher than in Greater Vancouver, where prices were about $2.12 million.
In the first quarter of the year, single-family homes were on the market on average for 42 days, which is a 25-per-cent shorter time compared to a year ago. Townhouses and apartments sold even faster – townhouses were 18 days on the market on average and apartments, 23 days. This was a 46-per-cent and 38-per-cent shorter time respectively.
There have been signs of cooling in the housing market, however, after the Bank of Canada, however, raised interest rates 0.5 per cent in April.
And, according to several media reports, interest rates may rise again in June to curb inflation, which was 6.8 per cent in April.
Gaming revenue down compared to pre-pandemic levels
Gaming revenue has started coming into city coffers again as the River Rock Casino is once again open, but they still haven’t bounced back to pre-COVID-19 levels.
In its budget projections, the City of Richmond estimated it would get about $14.5 million in gaming revenue in 2022, based on what it received before the pandemic hit. The city receives 10 per cent of net proceeds from River Rock Casino.
The city received $5.7 million in the second half of 2021 after the casino reopened on July 1.
But the first quarter of 2022 saw only about $2.65 million in revenue from the casino.
The housing market and gaming revenue information will be dealt with at Monday's finance committee meeting along with other financial information about the city.
