Temperatures in July were hot in Chilliwack but real estate sales hit a serious cool spot.
With just 237 residential home sales, that’s a drop of 33 per cent from the 355 in July 2017 and 18 per cent from June, according to the Chilliwack and District Real Estate Board (CADREB).
There have been 1,958 units over the first seven months of the year. This was down 21.1 per cent from the same period in 2017.
“Home sales were still running back around 2014 levels in July, which has been the case since May,” said CADREB president Lori Maier. “The slowdown in sales from very strong levels in the last few years, along with a rebound in inventories to more normal levels, has resulted in a marked moderation in year-over-year average price gains following an almost unbroken streak of double-digit gains going back more than two years.”
Sales of single family homes dropped year over year from 185 last year to 126 last month. Townhouse sales similarly dropped from 78 to 43 with apartments staying relatively steady but still dropping, from 59 to 49.
The average sale price of a home last month was $490,652 a significant drop from the average of $529,127 in June, $538,999 in May and $533,020 in April, pointing to buyers turning away from the higher end of the market.
The average sale price of a home in July 2017 was $474,222 and July 2016 was $399,890.
Even of those fewer single family homes sold in July, there was a move to lower priced options with an average sale price of $603,023 down from $653,949 a month prior.
The average sale price of the 43 townhouses sold last month was $426,614, and the average of the 49 apartments sold was $267,018.
The year-to-date average sale price was $518,902, up 13.4 per cent over the first seven months of 2017.
The cooling of sales in July is not surprising as last month CADREB already said there had been a return to a “balanced” market. New mortgage rules, too, mean the sellers market is softening as buyers hold off or lower their expectations.
Listings continue to be back up to normal with 1,390 homes on the market at month’s end, compared to just 956 a year ago.
• READ MORE: Chilliwack real estate back to a balanced market – June 2018
• READ MORE: Drop in Chilliwack home sales attributed to ‘stress test’ – May 2018
• READ MORE: Chilliwack real estate sales steady, prices continue to rise – April 2018
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