Time to look back and see what kind of year it was. The Fraser Valley Real Estate Board has released its year-end summary, and we also have the latest property assessments to reveal price trends.
FVREB president Ron Todson sums up 2013 this way:
"It wasn't the best of years, nor was it the worst. Generally speaking, 2013 overall was quiet. Earlier in the year, our market felt the impact of the tighter mortgage regulations, rebounded some in the summer and then flattened again come fall.
"The positive for both buyers and sellers has been the stability in home prices. Although our sales last year were among the lowest they've been in the last decade, we didn't see significant price declines because our inventory also remained lower."
Sales and Listings
December is typically the slowest month of the year for home sales, and 2013 was no exception. In all, 758 homes sold in December compared to 864 in November.
But there were a few unseasonal exceptions in Surrey. Single detached sales in Surrey Central were 8 per cent higher than in November. Townhouse sales rose by 9.4 per cent in South Surrey/ White Rock, 26.1 per cent in Cloverdale and 42.9 per cent in North Surrey, where apartment sales also rose by 48.1 per cent.
What's Up, What's Down - At a Glance Dec/Nov 2013 Dec 2013/ Dec 2012 Overall Home Sales -12.3% +35.8% - Detached -18.3% +28.9% - Townhouse -4.2% +58.1% - Apartment -3.9% +29.8% New Listings -42.7% +20.1% Active Listings -13.9% +2.1%
The comparisons with December of 2012 tell a story. Since July, 2013, sales have substantially outpaced those of the same month in 2012. But that wasn't enough to overcome the low sales of an extremely slow spring market.
Home sales in 2013 totaled 12,067, a few less than the 12,113 home sales in 2012. That means 2013 had the second-lowest MLS® home sales in the last 10 years.
The high and low in the last 10 years? The slowest year was 2008, with only 11,559 sales. The biggest year was 2005, with 18,662 sales. See the red bars in the graph below.
Fraser Valley Real Estate Board annual MLS® sales, listings, price
Overall, detached houseswhich make up 60 per cent of the Fraser Valley housing marketaccounted for the y/y drop in sales. For all FVREB areas combined, house sales dropped 2.4 per cent from 2012. However, townhouse sales were up by 3.2 per cent and apartment sales rose 1.6 per cent.
Some areas fared better than the overall numbers indicate, particularly those at the higher end of the Fraser Valley price spectrum. White Rock recovered strongly from 2012. House sales increased by 10.4 per cent, townhouse sales rose 7.5 per cent and apartment sales went up by 10.7 per cent. Langley y/y sales improved slightly for all housing types as well, with houses up 2.3 per cent, townhouses up 1.5 per cent and apartments more or less even at a 0.5 per cent gain.
For local market details, see the Fraser Valley Real Estate Board statistics, broken down by community.
MLS® Benchmark Prices
When you open your BC Property Assessment, you'll probably see very little change from last year. In the area covered by the Fraser Valley Real Estate Board, changes in assessments are generally in the -5 to +5 per cent range. You can compare your home's assessment with others using BC Assessment's e-valueBC tool. Assessments are based on the market price on July 1 of the previous year, and in July 2013, MLS® benchmark prices were virtually the same as they had been in 2012.
As FVREB's Ron Todson points out, price stability is the result of fewer homes coming on the market. There's no surplus of inventory, so despite the slow sales, prices are not being forced down. Fraser Valley MLS® Benchmark Prices, % Change Dec 2013 Nov 2013 Dec 2012 Detached $549,500 -0.1% +1.9% Townhouse $293,300 +0.3% -1.0% Apartment $192,600 -1.8% -3.7%
Once again, though, it depends on what type of housing we're talking about. It's interesting that while sales of detached houses dropped in 2013, prices rose slightly. All FVREB areas except Mission saw slight increases in MLS® benchmark prices for detached houses, for an overall rise of 2.0 per cent.
Townhouse prices fell in all but three of the eight FVREB areas: North Delta, North Surrey and South Surrey White Rock. Only two areas saw price increases for apartments: South Surrey White Rock and Langley.
This MLS® Home Price Index chart shows the rate of change of benchmark prices for the three housing types. It's clear that detached house prices have broken away from the pack in the last four years.
Fraser Valley MLS® Home Price Index change
You can view the full FVREB statistics package for December 2013 here. Now for the fun part... let's see where the priciest properties in the Fraser Valley are located, according to BC Assessments. And if you want to find them, look south.
Top-10 assessments per region map
The highest-valued Fraser Valley property is an acreage in the Southeast Uplands area of Surrey worth $14,059,000. The next-most-expensive are single-family houses along the White Rock coastline. There's also a cluster in Langley's horse country, near the border.
There are seven Fraser Valley properties in the BC top 500. Prices in the top 500 range from $54,206,000 for the house that Lululemon built on Point Grey Road in Vancouver, to $7,484,000 for a West Vancouver waterfront home. BC Rank Assessment Neighbourhood 71 $14,059,000 S.E. Uplands, Surrey 181 $10,546,000 Ocean Park/W. Sunnyside, White Rock 188 $10,421,000 Ocean Park/W. Sunnyside, White Rock 221 $9,908,000 S.E. Uplands, Surrey 227 $9,766,000 South-West Langley 232 $9,726,000 Ocean Park/W. Sunnyside, White Rock 464 $7,742,000 Ocean Park/W. Sunnyside, White Rock Dream on!
