The Fraser Valley is the new destination for Vancouverites who are looking to buy new homes. It cannot be denied that the Vancouver housing prices have sky rocketed this past decade making many of their homes unaffordable to the public. First time home buyers can forget about buying in Vancouver unless their desire is to own a $400,000 condo with 500 sqft. Why spend $800,000 on a 15 year old home? The answer is the Fraser Valley! With more and more families coming out to the FV, it is the new area of development. Suburbia is being erected at an alarming rate and condo developments as far as the eye can see. Fraser Valley real estate markets mirrored the Metro Vancouver experienced in January with a more relaxed pace of sales with rising levels of new listings to bring more market balance to the picture. The region's realtors recorded 981 sales through the Multiple Listing Service in January; still more than double the number of sales from the same month a year ago when markets across the Lower Mainland had nearly ground to a halt. Buyers are also seeing a bit more selection as sellers listed 2,941 properties for sale in January, a near doubling from the number of new listings put up for sale in December. The benchmark price for a Fraser Valley single-family home, the average value of typical homes sold, hit $500,931 in January, up almost 11 per cent from the same month a year ago. What your money buys for this price is unquestionably the reason people should choose the Fraser Valley when thinking about buying a home\investment. So for all those skeptics that think the market is going to decrease… well it still may… but right now it’s making like James Brown and "Get up and Get on up!!!".

(Surrey, BC) – Not even the most engaging Olympics in Canadian history could completely slow the

appetite for house hunting, according to the most recent statistics from the Fraser Valley Real Estate

Board.

The Board’s Multiple Listing Service® (MLS®) recorded 1,204 sales in February, an increase of 23 percent over January’s sales and an increase of 77 per cent over the 682 sales during February of last year.

Deanna Horn, president of the Board explains, “Although the phones were quieter and we did experience less traffic at open houses, we were surprisingly busy given how much everyone, including

REALTORS® were enjoying the Games.

“Buyers are aware of two key changes that could impact their purchasing ability. The new mortgage rules coming in April, plus the Harmonized Sales Tax in July, so the ‘Olympic effect’ we were expecting

wasn’t as deep.”

The Board’s MLS® received 2,879 new listings in February, an average of 144 per business day,

providing buyers with 14 per cent more selection than they had the previous month. The number of

active listings in February was 8,485, 12 per cent fewer than were available during February last year.

Horn adds that the combined strength of listings and sales currently is stabilizing Fraser Valley home

prices. “Overall, we’ve seen modest price gains for the last three months. The benchmark price for all

residential types combined increased less than one per cent from January to February.

“When you have a healthy level of inventory, it puts less upward pressure on prices and creates a stable, balanced market.”

In February, the benchmark price for Fraser Valley detached homes was $508,136, an increase of 11.3 per cent from the February 2009 price of $456,683.

The benchmark price of Fraser Valley townhouses in February was $324,708, a 9.8 per cent increase

compared to $295,731 in February 2009. The benchmark price of apartments increased by 7.8 per cent

year-over-year going from $228,091 in February 2009 to $245,879 in February 2010.