The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver says May home sales rose 15.7 per cent from a year earlier.

The B.C. board says Vancouver's housing market is showing signs of heating up heading into the summer, as prices increased for the sixth consecutive month. 

The board says sales for the month totalled 3,411, which was 1.4 per cent below the 10-year seasonal average of 3,458.

The composite benchmark price for all residential properties in Metro Vancouver was $1,188,000 last month, down 5.6 per cent from a year ago but up 1.3 per cent from April.

There were 5,661 new listings last month, an 11.5 per cent decrease compared with a year ago and 4.3 per cent lower than the 10-year seasonal average of 5,917.

Andrew Lis, the board's director of economics and data analysis, says in a release that prices are increasing because there are more buyers than sellers in the market, keeping resale homes in short supply. 

Lis says the higher sales in May nearing historical averages were a "surprising twist" amid higher interest rates and slower new listing activity. 

"If mortgage rates weren’t holding back market activity so much right now, I think our market would look a lot like the heydays of 2021/22, or even 2016/17," he says.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 2, 2023.