REW.ca asked consumers for their thoughts on the current Vancouver real estate market. We asked because expert opinion is easy to find — consumer opinion, not so much. Government, banks, real estate boards and other industry heavyweights weigh in regularly with predictions based on what consumers have done. So we like to ask consumers what they think they will do in hopes of getting a crystal-ball glimpse of the near-future. We asked only two questions in our March 2012 Consumer Confidence Survey: Do you think it’s a good time to BUY a house/condo in the next three months? Do you think it’s a good time to SELL a house condo in the next three months? Then we had them tell us their reasons. We didn’t give them a list of choices. Instead we let them give their own answers and then we grouped them.

1. Metro Vancouver & Fraser Valley
March 2012
REW.ca Consumer Confidence Survey
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2. Introduction
 278 telephone interviews with Metro Vancouver & Fraser Valley adults, 18
years and over;
 Margin of error: 5.9% at 95% confidence level in the most conservative
case;
 Industry-standard, multi-stage random selection techniques employed;
 Municipal quotas ensure the population is represented according to its
actual distribution;
 At tabulation stage, weighting adjustments bring basic characteristics of
age, gender and region into their correct known proportions based on
Statistics Canada population figures
 Interviewing conducted March 5th to 19th, 2012
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3. Good Time to Buy a House/Condo in Next 3 Months
No
42%
Yes
46%
Don't
know
13%
Base: Total (n=278)
Q.2a) Do you think it is a good time to buy a house or a condo in the next 3 months?
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4. Good Time to Buy in Next 3 Months: Reasons
Good time to buy
Yes (129) No (114)
% %
Prices are too high 5 49
Interest rates are low 28 2
Prices will go down/market correction/housing bubble 6 17
It’s a buyer’s market/too many properties for sale 17 4
Prices will continue to rise 13 7
Concerned about the economy 1 15
Housing prices have stabilized 8 2
Good time of year to sell 6 1
Interest rates will go up 2 5
Prices are low/reasonable 6 -
Economy is improving 3 -
HST/taxes concerns 1 1
It’s a seller’s market - 1
Miscellaneous - 1
Nothing/no comment/none 21 12 4

5. Good Time to Sell a House/Condo in Next 3 Months
No
33%
Yes
56%
Don't
know
10%
Base: Total (n=278)
Q.1a) Do you think it is a good time to sell a house or a condo in the next 3 months?
5

6. Good Time to Sell in Next 3 Months: Reasons
Good time to sell
Yes (159) No (88)
% %
Prices will go down/market correction/housing bubble 17 29
Prices are high 18 13
Good time of year to sell 14 3
Interest rates are low 13 -
It’s a seller’s market 12 1
Concerned about the economy 1 19
Prices will continue to rise 8 7
Housing prices have stabilized 7 5
It’s a buyer’s market/too many properties for sale 1 13
HST/taxes concerns - 6
Economy is improving 3 -
Interest rates will go up 2 1
Miscellaneous 5 4
Nothing/no comment/none 20 12
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7. Distribution of Interviews
Total (278)
%
Home Tenure
Rent 22
Own 76
Refused 1
Gender
Male 49
Female 51
Age
18 to 34 29
35 to 54 40
55 to 64 14
65 + 17
Refused <1
Region
Vancouver 27
North Shore 8
Burnaby/New Westminster 12
Tri-cities/Maple Ridge/Pitt Meadows 11
Richmond/Tsawwassen/Ladner/South Delta 10
Surrey/White Rock/North Delta/Langley/East to Aldergrove 24
Abbotsford/Chilliwack 10 7

8. Confidence Limits
 A reported finding of 50% would fall between 45.5% and 54.5%
most of the time. Accuracy increases for findings above and below
50%. The table below illustrates tolerance limits for various
incidence levels at several subgroup sizes. This table applies to
observed differences within one study.
TOLERANCE LIMITS
( range in percentage points)
n=500 n=400 n=300 n=250 n=200 n=100 n=50
50% 4.4 4.9 5.7 6.2 6.9 9.8 13.9
40 or 60% 4.3 4.8 5.5 6.1 6.8 9.6 13.6
30 or 70% 4.0 4.5 5.2 5.7 6.4 9.0 12.7
20 or 80% 3.5 3.9 4.5 5.0 5.5 7.8 11.1
10 or 90% 2.6 2.9 3.4 3.7 4.2 5.9 8.3
5 or 95% 1.9 2.1 2.5 2.7 3.0 4.3 6.0
 Exercise caution when interpreting data based on samples of less
than 50. Such results must be treated as directional only.
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