December is a slow month for home sales, but the numbers of houses changing hands was up in Langley compared to a year ago, according to recent statistics.
After a slow real estate market that began in early 2018 and continued through much of 2019, sales had picked up sharply in the fall.
That continued into December in Langley.
Monthly statistics from the Fraser Valley Real Estate Board showed that 65 detached houses sold in December 2019 compared to 55 in the same month in 2018.
There were 72 sales of townhouses, up from 40 a year ago, and 57 condo sales, up from 54 in 2018.
Despite the uptick in sales, prices were largely flat or down compared to a year ago.
The FVREB showed that the benchmark price of a Langley detached house remained below $1 million, at $996,700, down 0.6 per cent from a year ago.
The benchmark of a townhouse was down 0.9 per cent at $490,100, and the benchmark price of a condo was down 1.4 per cent at $407,300.
The benchmark price is the average price of a “typical” unit, according to the FVREB.
The overall average price of a home each category is typically slightly higher. The overall average of a house is just over $1 million in Langley.
Despite the uptick in sales in recent months, the Fraser Valley saw the fewest home sales in a year since 2013.
The total value of transactions in the region, which runs from North Delta to Abbotsford, was $11.2 billion, down from $11.8 billion.
“Comparatively, 2019 was slower than normal for our region,” said Darin Germyn, president of the FVREB. “Earlier in the year, we were still feeling the impact of the stress test introduced in 2018, but with steady job growth in our region and a stable economy, we’ve seen sales in the last few months return to above‐average levels.”
