It was a busy May in Fraser Valley real estate the highest sales in seven years and the highest number of homes for sale since last fall. And single-family houses are leading the charge. Take a look at the Fraser Valley Real Estate Board's newest stats.
Sales and Listings
There were 1,420 MLS® home sales* in FVREB territory in April: 851 were detached houses (60 per cent of overall sales), 326 were townhouses or attached properties (23 per cent of sales) and 243 were apartments (17.1 per cent).
New listings are picking up. A total of 2,656 homes came to market in May: 1,493 detached houses, 654 townhouses and 509 condos.
Active listings in May included 3,762 houses, 1,644 townhouses and 1,831 condos, for a total of 7,243 properties still not as many as May 2013, but the most since last September.
What's Up, What's Down - At a Glance Apr/Mar 2014 Apr 2014/ Apr 2013 Overall Home Sales +9.3% +16.5% - Detached +13% +18.5% - Townhouse +1.5% +19.4% - Apartment +8% +6.6% New Listings +0.3% +1.8% Active Listings +5% -9.1%
Ray Werger, President of the Board, says, "For the second month in a row, we're experiencing healthy sales volumes with the most popular choice being single family detached homes followed by townhouses. For single-family homes, that market is at the upper end of a balanced market with certain areas in a seller's market where over 30 per cent of available inventory is selling."
Those areas are Langley and North Delta. Meanwhile, in Abbotsford, South Surrey White Rock, Cloverdale and North Surrey, over 22 per cent of the detached houses on the market sold, which puts those areas at the upper end of a balanced market.
MLS® Benchmark Prices
So if detached houses are flying off the shelves, what's that doing to prices?
Ray Werger says "We're starting to see that preference reflected in prices. Prices are up three per cent over the past year, even higher in the most soughtafter communities and most of that increase has taken place in the last six months."
A look at the overall prices compared to last year shows houses outperforming townhouses and condos:
Fraser Valley MLS® Benchmark Prices, % Change May 2014 Apr 2014 May 2013 Detached $566,400 +0.1% +3.1% Townhouse $297,300 -0.5% -0.2% Apartment $198,100 +0.9% -2.6%
And looking at the separate areas, there's a correlation between price changes and sales. North Delta, with a sales-to-active-listings ratio of 31.7 per cent, also had the biggest price rise: 7.1 per cent since May 2013.
In South Surrey White Rock, 23.2 per cent of the house inventory sold last month and prices were up 5.3 per cent from last May. Langley's sales-to-listings stood at 31.4 per cent, and detached house prices rose 3.9 per cent over the year. Cloverdale's sales-to-listings ratio was 24.5 per cent and prices increased by 3.2 per cent.
Here's the benchmark detached house price index broken down by areas.
Fraser Valley Real Estate Board detached house prices May 2014
And if you're wondering, at $566,400, the average benchmark price of a house in the Fraser Valley is 58.6 per cent of the average benchmark price in Greater Vancouver ($966,500). So strong Fraser Valley house sales come as no surprise.
For more details on local markets, see the Fraser Valley Real Estate Board statistics, broken down by community. FVREB comprises North Delta, North Surrey, Surrey, Cloverdale, South Surrey & White Rock, Langley, Abbotsford and Mission.
* FVREB's overall sales numbers include all types of property including commercial, agricultural and industrial. The statistics given in this article are strictly residential.
See also:
Greater Vancouver Real Estate Market: May 2014
Vancouver vs. Fraser Valley: How the Latest Price-Rise Stats Compare
