Fraser Valley Residential Real Estate: July 2020 Infographic
July statistics have been released by the Fraser Valley Real Estate Board and the residential market clearly missed the memo: it’s Summer. The region plowed ahead with strong sales, price increases, strong demand and historically low inventory. For the past decade July typically reports decreased sales, flattening or declining prices, increased days on market and a slight build up of active listings but that’s just not the case this year.
Sales jumped again from last month with townhouse sales up 23% and single family sales up 32%. Condos lagged slightly but still saw a 6% increase. Total sales in July finished the month at 131% of the 10 year average. This becomes even more significant when you consider there is only one July in the past decade that had more sales than July 2020 and that we have only seen an increase in sales in July twice in that same 10 years.
Active listings increased 4-9% which is below typical increases for the month of July, holding the total quantity of listings down at only 83% of the 10 year average.
The indicators of buyer competition saw atypical changes in July as well. Sale price as a percent of list price was up for all major home types and average days on market was down for townhomes and condos. Overall, average days on market is only 80% of the 10 year average for July. Buyers appear to be spending their summer holidays shopping for homes.
HPI Benchmark Prices ignored the typical summer lull too, continuing their steady upward trajectory. Single family pricing led the pack with a month-over-month increase of 1.4%. The Langley and South Surrey markets outperformed that Fraser Valley average, posting enormous increases of 1.7% and 2.6% respectively. Similarly, the average townhome in the Fraser Valley increased 0.6% and the average condo a further 0.5% over last month, both significant given the time of year.
All these key metrics indicate that people have clearly adjusted to the new way of buying and selling homes.
What does this mean for development land in the Fraser Valley?
All the good news flowing from the FVREB and local sales centres has most developers and builders bullish on the market. The enormous increase in demand for land that we reported with our June infographic has only grown since then.
A common thread in recent conversations amongst developers and builders is a recognition that we have seen the bottom of the market, resulting in confidence to make their next land purchase.
Land values are holding constant for the time being but any developable residential site in the Fraser Valley that’s priced correctly is seeing offers within a few days of market exposure so if you’re looking to make a land purchase, be prepared to move quickly.
Check out our curated summary of the Fraser Valley Real Estate Board’s July stats in infographics below.
View the Fraser Valley Real Estate Board’s entire stats package for July 2020 here.
This representation is based in whole or in part on data generated by the Fraser Valley Real Estate Board which assumes no responsibility for its accuracy.
