Detached house prices climbed 5.2 per cent in the past year in the Fraser Valley, while townhouse and apartment prices are stagnant.
The Fraser Valley Real Estate Board reported its benchmark price for houses continued to gain in the early months of 2015 to reach $595,600 in April. That’s up 15 per cent from five years ago.
The strongest gains were in South Surrey/White Rock, where houses were up eight per cent since April of 2014.
Townhouses have been tepid, however, with the Fraser Valley benchmark price of $300,400 up just 0.6 per cent from a year earlier and down 1.9 per cent from five years ago.
Apartments have fared worse yet, with benchmark prices down 2.6 per cent from a year ago to $191,200. That’s a drop of 8.8 per cent from five years ago.
Abbotsford has actually seen strong one-year price gains for townhouses (up 7.3 per cent) and apartments (up 11 per cent) but apartment price drops of around eight per cent or more in Langley, Surrey and North Delta have pulled the regional average down.
Price gains continue to be stronger closer to Vancouver in communities tracked by the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver, which includes all cities north of the Fraser as well as Tsawwassen.
The REBGV benchmark price for detached houses was up 12.5 per cent from a year ago to $1.08 million and runs as high as $2.5 million on Vancouver’s west side.
Greater Vancouver townhouses gained 5.7 per cent on average from a year ago to $493,300 and apartments climbed 4.4 percent to $394,200.
“The supply of homes for sale today in the region is not meeting the demand we’re seeing from home buyers,” said REBGV president Darcy McLeod. “This is putting upward pressure on prices, particularly in the detached home market.”
