First quarter sales of new multi-family homes in Metro Vancouver decreased by 45 per cent compared to the same quarter in 2012, according to Colliers International’s residential real estate report.

“Investment demand has been more moderate of late,” says Scott Brown, senior vice-president of Colliers’ residential group. “This moderation is, however, partly due to lack of supply as few new launches were conducted in markets that investors tend to favour such as downtown Vancouver and Burnaby. Thus, the magnitude of the decrease this quarter compared to last year is somewhat misleading.”

Given that there were fewer significant project launches that attracted investment in the first quarter of 2013, and a number of these type of launches are scheduled for the second quarter, Colliers expects stronger second quarter performance.

Brown projects that the 2013 half-year sales figure will be within 10 to 15 per cent of the half-year figure in 2012.

While lower sales did impact inventory levels, the number of completed and unsold homes or standing inventory has remained largely unchanged over the past several quarters. This is good news for developers and lenders as it is an indicator that end users, while not as active in the pre-sale markets, continue to represent sustainable demand for new housing.

“Even with some investor demand likely awaiting new offerings in key markets like downtown Vancouver, there is evidence the overall Metro Vancouver market is shifting towards more of an end user-oriented one for the next while,” says Brown.