More than one-fifth of homes sold in Greater Vancouver so far this year went for $1 million or more, according to the Greater Vancouver Real Estate Board.
Three-quarters of those million or multi-million dollar properties are located in West Vancouver, the West Side or Richmond. Another fifth sold for $350,000 or less at locations throughout the lower mainland.
The region's notoriously pricy market has already spurred a sequel to the popular online game Crack Shack or Mansion, which challenges players to distringuish between pictures of million-dollar homes and properties involved in alleged drug production.
Real Estate Board president Rosario Setticasi says high-end listings are seeing more activity than they did one year ago.
"This is causing today's average prices in the region to be less reflective of the total activity occurring in the marketplace," Setticasi said in a release.
The Multiple Listing Service Link Housing Price Index benchmark price for all residential properties in the area in the last year has increased more than six per cent to $627,568.
But May still saw a seven per cent increase in detached, attached and apartment sales over the same month last year, from 3,156 to 3,377, and an increase of nearly 5 per cent over April 2011.
Despite the fact that sales are on the rise, they're still below the 10-year average by 8.1 per cent. There were also fewer properties listed this May than last.
The current market favours sellers, according to the board.
