Transactions in July are first this year to fail to break monthly records, reports board ? but this could be more about lack of supply than a cooling in demand
Joannah Connolly
REW
Fraser Valley real estate sales in July were the first this year to fail to break monthly records, the Fraser Valley Real Estate Board (FVREB) reported August 3.
The 1,962 sales registered Multiple Listing Service® (MLS®) – including residential, industrial and commercial – was a decline of 10.2 per cent compared to the 2,184 sales in July 2015.
This total was also a dramatic 31.5 per cent drop compared with the 2,864 transactions processed in June 2016, and came nowhere near to the record sales set in March 2016.
Broken out by residential transactions only, home sales dropped nearly 10 per cent year over year and were down 31.4 per cent compared with the previous month, mirroring trends seen at the board’s counterpart in Greater Vancouver.
The number of new homes listed for sale in the Fraser Valley was up a welcome 18.7 per cent year over year, but that was still not enough to meet demand, with total listings at the end of July standing at nearly 23 per cent fewer than the same month last year.
Charles Wiebe, president of the board, said, “A slowing down in activity is expected during the summer. While it may seem drastic or alarming when compared to months prior, this easing off is welcome as we get further into the year – the pace of the market slows, and inventory has a chance to catch up.”
The average sale price of a Fraser Valley property (all property types combined) in June was $659,340, a decline of 7.4 per cent compared with July last year – but benchmark prices for typical homes continued to rise (see below).
Sales and Listings
There were 1,743 residential property sales in the Fraser Valley in July, down 9.9 per cent compared with July 2015 and a drop of 31.4 per cent over the previous month’s figures.
Broken out by home type, 828 single-family houses were sold in July, which like in Greater Vancouver was the steepest decline, dropping 29.8 per cent since last July and 35.4 per cent compared with June. However, demand was still high as the average number of days a Fraser Valley detached home took to sell was 18 days, compared with 33 days in July 2015.
The region’s townhouse, duplex and row home sales fell by 7.3 per cent year over year to 434 sales. This was also a drop of 33.8 per cent compared with June’s attached home sales.
Bucking the year-over-year declines, condo-apartment sales continued to be strong, jumping 68.2 per cent to 481 sales compared with July 2015’s 286 units. Nonetheless, this was a month-over-month drop of 20.4 per cent.
New home listings in the Fraser Valley were up 18.7 per cent compared with one year previously, totalling 2,772 in July. However this was a fall of nearly 11 per cent compared with the previous month, as fewer sellers listed their homes in the slowing summer season.
At the end of July there were 4,094 active home listings on the MLS®, a decline of 22.8 per cent compared with the 5,303 active listings in July 2015, but a rise compared with June of nearly 11 per cent, as sales slowed down in July.
Wiebe added, “This is a good thing for our market, and buyers especially. Additional inventory will help drive us towards a more balanced environment for consumers and remove some of the upward pressure on prices we’ve been seeing.”
Benchmark Prices
The slowdown in sales did not stop benchmark prices from rising in the Fraser Valley, although the pace of that growth had the heat taken out of it somewhat.
The price of a typical detached house in the Fraser Valley in July was $881,400, a leap of 41.9 per cent over July 2015’s $621,100, and a rise of 2.3 per cent since June.
The benchmark price of a townhome or other attached home in the region was up nearly 34 per cent year over year in July, breaching the $400K mark for the first time at $408,200. This was a rise of 5.5 per cent over the previous month.
The cost of a typical condo-apartment unit in the Valley rose nearly 25 per cent year over year to $240,600, up 3.8 per cent over the previous month.
Prices in the Fraser Valley differ by city and neighbourhood. To see home prices, sales and listings broken down by community, see the FVREB July 2016 statistics package.
© 2016 Real Estate Weekly
