Homeowners south of the Fraser River should no longer feel like the Lower Mainland’s poor cousins. The price of houses and townhouses is rising faster in the Fraser Valley than in Greater Vancouver, July sales statistics show.

The average price of a detached home in the valley rose 20.9 per cent since July 2003, to $360,488, the Fraser Valley Real Estate Board reported Wednesday. Townhouses averaged $235,963, up a whopping 27.6 per cent in just a year.

Apartment prices in the valley rose a more modest 14.8 per cent to $137,835 on average.

As in the city, sales activity cooled in July, with 1,553 transactions compared to 1,915 in the same month last year.

Fraser Valley Real Estate Board president Moss Maloney put the decline down to the fact July 2003 was extraordinary, breaking the previous record for sales in the month.

“Sales continue to be very strong, higher than what we predicted. Overall, we’re still on track to beat last year,” he said.

Prices were highest in White Rock, where a detached house averages $553,263, up a hefty $120,377 from a year earlier.

“It’s still a seller’s market. Inventory is up only slightly, yet prices are firming up and remaining consistently high,” Moloney said.

The Fraser Valley sales figures echo numbers released this week by the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver, where July sales slipped by a quarter year over year, to 3,017 units from 4,023 in July 2003 amid rising prices.

The benchmark price of a single-family house — representing a typical home on the market — rose 15.4 per cent to $493,010, the Vancouver board said. The benchmark townhouse rose 19.3 per cent to $324,530, while condos rose 19.6 per cent to $242,470.

The Fraser Valley board covers communities south of the Fraser River from Delta to Abbotsford. The Greater Vancouver numbers reflect sales from Maple Ridge in the east to Richmond in the south and the Sunshine Coast in the west.

So far this year 12,006 homes have changed hands in the Fraser Valley, compared to 10,879 at this time last year. Sales in 2003 set a new volume record for both Lower Mainland real estate boards.

Realtors and homeowners will be watching whether or not sales activity picks up again in the fall. A prolonged slowdown in sales, accompanied by a rise in the number of homes on the market, typically precedes a levelling-off in prices.

“My prediction is that we’re going to have a very strong fall,” Maloney said. He noted that interest rates are rising, but “not running away.”

Given the price increases seen over the past three years, buyers are becoming more selective, however.

“A home that’s priced five, six, seven per cent over market will sit,” Maloney said.

© The Vancouver Sun 2004