Fraser Valley Residential Real Estate: March 2019 Infographic
The March stats are out from the Fraser Valley Real Estate Board and, despite lower sales than we’ve seen in the past few years, the market continues to warm up as we head into spring.
Benchmark prices rose again this month across all major residential home types in the Fraser Valley. Condos lead the pack with a full 2.0% increase, month-over-month. Townhomes and detached homes rose mildly by comparison, at 0.3% and 0.4%. Conversely, the South Surrey/White Rock region saw a 0.7% decline in the benchmark price of a detached home – surprising for a time of year that typically experiences increases.
Total inventory (active listings) finished the month at 90% of the 10 year average for March, despite mild month over month increases and lower sales than normal. In the period between 2010 and 2015, when inventory levels were relatively stable year over year, the month of March consistently had between 7,500 and 7,900 active listings. March 2019 had only 5,988, approximately 75% of the inventory levels we experienced in that period, a period when the market was generally viewed as strong and stable.
Sale price as a percent of original list price climbed again this month for all home types and average days on market continues to fall significantly as spring market competition picks up. The most significant change was the average days on market for a townhouse in the Fraser Valley fell from 39 to 29 days.
What does this mean for development land in the Fraser Valley? The combination of key metrics moving in the right direction and increasing faith in economic fundamentals (strong immigration, restricted supply) is building confidence among development land purchasers. Enough so, that many of the buyers that were sidelined late last year and into the first quarter of this year are beginning to explore acquisitions again.
There is tremendous demand for land that is priced (read: repriced) to market, particularly as vendors relax their expectations on terms. At Frontline Real Estate Services we have been managing through more than one multiple offer situation the past few weeks both for ready-to-go residential development land and longer-term holding land.
Check out our curated summary of the Fraser Valley Real Estate Board’s March stats in infographics below.
View the Fraser Valley Real Estate Board’s entire stats package for March 2019 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.
