Supply continues to fall short of demand in the Surrey housing market, resulting in a sharp decrease in sales but a significant rise in benchmark prices over the past 12 months.
The Fraser Valley Real Estate Board (FVREB) processed 447 sales of detached, townhouse and apartment homes last month, a decline of 28.8 per cent from January, 2016.
But the benchmark price of detached home was up 23.78 per cent, from $778,100 to $962,300.
The benchmark price increase of a townhouse over the past year was even higher, up 28.8 per cent from $346,000 to $445,800.
But the number of homes on the market throughout the Fraser Valley is 4,401, a decrease of 8.1 per cent from a year ago and a 10-year low for January.
“The impacts of 2016’s tremendous real estate surge continue to be felt as we enter the new year, and a new market,” said FVREB President Charles Weibe. “As well, prices continue to adjust to match more typical demand, albeit slowly.”
The rate of increase in Surrey was comparable to the rest of the Fraser Valley. Figures released by the FVREB last week show a 24.2-per-cent increase in the benchmark value of a detached home in the city, rising from $689,300 to $856,300.
The area with the biggest increase in benchmark prices of detached houses was White Rock/South Surrey, where a 25.6-per-cent increase bumped the price from $1,132,700 to $1,422,700. The lowest was in Surrey-North, where the increase from $686,700 to $821,900 was 19.7 per cent.
Surrey-Central saw an increase of 24.9 per cent, from $690,200 to $862,000. Surrey-Cloverdale was up 13.1 per cent, from $701,00 to $863,200. The benchmark price of the average townhouse in the valley was $420,400, an increase of 28.8 per cent.
The Fraser Valley Real Estate Board includes North Delta, Surrey, White Rock, Langley Abbotsford and Mission.
The largest rate of increase in the Fraser Valley over the past 12 months was in Abbotsford, where the benchmark price of a detached home rose 31.7 per cent from $509,100 to $670,700.
Other benchmark prices in the region were $866,500 in Langley (an increase of 24.1 per cent), $828,200 in North Delta (up 14.8 per cent), and $546,200 (up 29.6 per cent) in Mission.
As of January, 2017, it took an average of 49 days to sell a single-family detached home in the Fraser Valley, up from 33 days 12 months earlier.
