The Lau family and the XtremeRealtor.ca team would like to wish everyone a happy holiday and a merry christmas!  Remember to play safely and please please please arrange a safe ride home.

November property sales in the Fraser Valley are up slightly compared to last year and didn’t experience the usual month-over-month seasonal decline. 

The Fraser Valley Real Estate Board processed 1,120 sales in November on its Multiple Listing Service® (MLS®), an increase of 3 per cent compared to the 1,084 sales during the same month last year and a decrease of 2 per cent compared to 1,139 sales in October.  In the last decade, sales decreased on average 9 per cent from October to November.

Board president, Sukh Sidhu says, “Given the time of year, Fraser Valley is experiencing steady buying activity with notable month-over-month increases in the sale of homes with an attractive price point.

“For example, townhome sales in central Surrey increased by 20 per cent in one month and in Langley by 43 per cent.” Sidhu adds, “Fraser Valley offers buyers the key value of affordability. Currently, over half of our townhomes and condos are listed for $289,000 or less.” 

While sales remained stable, MLS® inventory decreased from October to November, typical for the time of year. The board posted 1,926 new properties in November, an increase of 9 per cent compared to November of last year and a decrease of 23 per cent compared to October. November finished with 9,471 active listings in the Fraser Valley, 5 per cent more than the same month last year and 5 per cent less than October’s 10,005 listings.   

Sidhu says, “Even with fewer listings coming on stream, buyers can still take advantage of almost nine months of inventory, which is putting downward pressure on prices in certain areas and property types.”  Prices for a typical Fraser Valley apartment are down year-over-year and month-over-month, while both single family detached and townhomes are still showing positive price gains compared to November last year and remain stable compared to October. 

In November, the benchmark price of a detached home in the Fraser Valley was $532,086, an increase of 5.4 per cent compared to $504,848 in November 2010 and an increase of 0.3 per cent compared to October.

For townhouses, the benchmark price in November was $327,764, an increase of 2.5 per cent compared to the same month last year when it was $319,623 and up 0.7 per cent compared to October. The benchmark price of apartments in November was $238,461, a decrease of 1.6 per cent compared to November 2010 and a decrease of 2.2 per cent compared to October.