How does saving $14,000 a minute sound? Abbotsford's Re/Max Little Oak Realty determined that if you compared house prices in Abbotsford to those farther west in the Fraser Valley, every extra minute spent on your commute could save $5000 to over $14,000 per mile. (See full story.)
Now compare house prices in the Fraser Valley to those in Greater Vancouver and think about the savings per minute-behind-the-wheel:
MLS® Benchmark Price, Detached House Greater Vancouver $1,056,400 Fraser Valley $ 572,700
Those lower prices were the driver last month with "an increase in demand for more affordable properties, in particular detached homes for less than $500,000 and townhomes," according to FVREB President Scott Olson.
The Fraser Valley Real Estate Board covers eight areas. Seven had benchmark prices below $563,700 for a detached house in March, and townhouses and apartments came in under $500,000 in all eight. Here's the breakdown by area.
Benchmark prices for North Delta, North Surrey, Surrey, Cloverdale, South Surrey White Rock, Langley, Abbotsford, Mission
Prices were up very slightly, as shown in this table and the graph below.
Fraser Valley MLS® HPI Benchmark Prices % Change March 2012 February2012 March 2011 Detached $572,700 +0.8% +4.9% Attached $315,000 +1.0% +0.4% Apartment $204,700 +1.5% +1.4%
The MLS® Home Price Index tracks the changes in benchmark prices for homes with similar features. It's showing a slight upward trend.
Fraser Valley Real Estate Board MLS® Home Price Index March 2012
Sales and Listings
"It was quieter than usual for March," says Scott Olson. Sales were down 22 per cent from last March, and 13 per cent lower than the 10-year average.
What's Up, What's Down - At a Glance m/m Mar 2012/Feb 2012 y/yMar 2012/ Mar2011 Overall Sales +11.3% -22.3% - Detached +9.1% -31.7% - Attached +21.8% -1.9% - Apartment +11.4% -17.6% New Listings +7.7% -9.2% Active Listings +6.7% +4.5%
FVREB says "The average number of days to sell a detached home was 46 in March 2012, one day faster than last year. It took 49 days on average to sell a townhouse and under two months or 58 days to sell an apartment."
You can read the Fraser Valley Real Estate Board's full breakdown of statistics here.
See also:
Greater Vancouver real estate market summary
See also:
