Prices are Down 0.8% in the Fraser Valley

Here are some statistics from the Fraser Valley Real Estate Board. My comments added in bold.

The average price of a single family home in the Fraser Valley reached $535,572 in September, the highest average price ever, according to statistics from Fraser Valley Real Estate Board’s Multiple Listing Service®. September’s MLS® numbers also revealed steady sales for sellers and increased inventory for Fraser Valley buyers. The benchmark house price index declined -0.8% from August and the trend is down, down, down with well over 6 months of inventory going into the fall. Lots of new supply is coming onto the market with even more on the way. Prices are out of reach for most people now and demand is decreasing while supply is increasing. Econ 101 tells me that we should expect a new price equilibrium to be established.

“September numbers show that Fraser Valley buyers and sellers took a bit of a breather after an unusually busy summer market, but we can see that the return to a lower sales level and an increase in inventory hasn’t affected the strength in average prices,” observes Kelvin Neufeld, president-elect of the Fraser Valley Board.

September’s average price for a single detached home at $535,572 reflects an increase of 8.5 per cent compared to the average price of $493,727 from the same month last year. Average townhouse prices increased by 2.8 per cent in one year going from $312,829 in September 2006 to $321,480 last month. Apartment prices averaged $230,280 last month, an increase of 12 per cent compared to $205,520 during September of last year.

“In September, the communities of Surrey, Langley and Mission reached their highest average prices on record for a single family home and in August that happened in North Delta and Abbotsford.”

There were 1,332 sales processed through the Multiple Listing Service® (MLS®) in September, on par with last year when 1,323 sales were processed in September 2006. This marks a decrease of 25 per cent compared to the previous month’s sales of 1,763 in August.

The number of total active listings increased by 22 per cent in one year, going from 6,918 active listings in September 2006 to 8,429 last month. The number of new listings in September at 2,614 was also six per cent higher than the 2,456 new listings received during the same month last year. At 6.3 months of inventory, we can expect further price decreases to continue through the winter.