Home sales in British Columbia’s Fraser Valley continue to slide, falling for three straight months as prices dip on everything from detached homes to condos, said the Fraser Valley Real Estate Board (FVREB) Wednesday.
Since last June, home sales have now fallen 43 per cent, something the FVREB said has led to a sense of “balance” in the region’s real estate market.
Citing high interest rates and the still significant cost to buy a home, the real estate board’s CEO Baldey Gill said he expects sales will continue to decline over the near term.
“The combination of higher rates and low inventory will present a barrier to first-time buyers and could result in even slower sales over the coming months,” said Gill in a written statement.
He expects higher interest rates and lower inventory could also erase price gains the region's real estate made over the past 10 months.
Since May, the MLS benchmark price of a single-detached home in the Fraser Valley has dropped by 3.5 per cent to $1,653,000. However, since, June 2021, that same average home has seen a price gain of 21.9 per cent.
Townhomes and condos have seen similar spikes in prices before experiencing slight declines.
The average price of a townhome now sits at $894,300, 2.7 per cent lower compared to May 2022, but 26.6 per cent higher compared to June 2021.
The average MLS benchmark price of a Fraser Valley apartment, meanwhile, has decreased 2.2 per cent since May to $568,700 — still 25.9 per cent higher when compared to June 2021.
A similar though less extreme story is playing out in Metro Vancouver's real estate market, where the average price of a detached house is falling by $37,000 per month. That's compared to $57,000 per month in the Fraser Valley.
On the bellwether Vancouver West Side market, the median price for a detached house plunged $194,000 from May to $3,063,500 in June.
- With files from Frank O'Brien
