Home prices and sales continue to weaken in Surrey and Fraser Valley
Residential real estate activities in the jurisdiction of the Fraser Valley Real Estate Board (FVREB), which includes a substantial area of Metro Vancouver, continue to follow a downward trajectory across key metrics.
FVREB’s latest statistics for the month of October 2023 show there were just 970 homes sold over the course of the month, representing a 12% drop from September 2023 and the fourth consecutive decrease since the 12-month high of 1,935 recorded in June 2023.
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The number of new listings also fell from 2,860 in September 2023 to 2,535 in October 2023, representing an 11% year-over-year drop. This is also down from the high of 3,533 new listings recorded in May 2023.
Total active listings in October 2023 reached 6,580, which is 1% higher than September 2023 and 17% above the levels of October 2022.
Overall, according to FVREB, the real estate market in its jurisdiction has reached “balanced” conditions.
Average prices across all home types dipped back under the million-dollar mark, reaching $994,000 in October 2023, representing a 2.9% month-over-month decrease. Overall benchmark prices saw their third consecutive monthly decrease, falling by 1.4% to $1.015 million from September 2023 to October 2023.
The benchmark price for single-family detached houses reached $1.503 million, representing a 1.5% decrease from September 2023 but a 4.8% increase from October 2022.
Townhouse benchmark prices reached $845,000 in October 2023, representing a 0.4% decline from September 2023 but a 4.7% increase from October 2022.
Apartment benchmark prices fell by 0.7% month-over-month to $545,000, which is a 3.7% increase from October 2022.
“What we’re seeing in the Fraser Valley and indeed across the province is the impact of sustained high interest rates on the overall market,” said Narinder Bains, chair of the FVREB. “This has been the case since the latter half of the year so far, and we anticipate the trend will continue until we start to see some downward movement in the policy rate.”
FVREB’s jurisdiction includes Surrey, Langley, Delta, White Rock, Mission, and Abbotsford. Other areas of Metro Vancouver such as Vancouver, Burnaby, New Westminster, Richmond, Pitt Meadows, Port Coquitlam, Port Moody, Coquitlam, West Vancouver, and North Vancouver are under the jurisdiction of the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver.
Benchmark home prices in Surrey reached $1.103 million in October 2023, representing a 1.7% drop from September 2023, but an increase of 2.7% from one year ago and 39.5% from three years ago in the midst of the pandemic.
Benchmark prices across all home types in Surrey are currently hovering at $1.562 million for single-family detached houses, $850,000 for townhouses, and $561,000 for apartments.