February 22, 2022 Fraser Valley February 2022 Pre-Sale Pulse

THE THIRD MOST ACTIVE JANUARY IN THE FRASER VALLEY

"Even though there was a significant decrease in resales compared to the previous year, this past month was the third most active January in the board's history, and resales were 35% above January's 5-year average," states Ryan Lalonde.

“Indeed, the Fraser Valley continues to see upward pressure on pricing with monthly price increases of 4-5% for single-family homes, condos, and townhomes. Essentially, in 30 days, that equates to a rise of between 20K-50K per home type," confirms Brittany Reimer.

PRESALE ACROSS THE FRASER VALLEY MARKET

Parkway by Bosa hosted a webinar for its first release at the end of January, with deals written in February. So the market can expect some big headlines coming from this project very soon. The project itself is blending at approximately $1,050 PPSF – slightly higher than other local projects since residential units start on the 20th floor. This level of activity and pricing confirms the confidence homebuyers are seeing in blue-chip developers active in Surrey's downtown core.

The District Northwest's South Tower is now over 75% sold – with sales now on pause as they prepare to launch the North Tower, a similar product offering to the South Tower. We'll be watching whether pricing will escalate on the second release.

"Given that the south tower received 1,500 suite request forms, we're expecting a significant number of purchasers that couldn't get into the first tower to jump on this opportunity," says Brittany Reimer.

SLIGHT MODERATION IN RESALE

In January, sales in the Fraser Valley moderated – reaching just over 1,300 over the month, down 27% from January 2021. The dip in sales resulted from a decrease in demand for detached and townhome products, which saw sales slip 31% and 37%, respectively. Condominium product, on the other hand, was up 12%.

As prices of single-detached and townhome products have appreciated over the past year, purchasers are turning to condominiums to enter the market as they save for larger townhomes and detached developments. As a result, MLA Canada expects condos to continue leading sales and pricing into the spring.

“At the end of the month, inventory was 19% higher than in December, and we saw substantial gains in newly listed products typical of the pre-spring market,” says Brittany Reimer.

The combined benchmark price in the Fraser Valley was $1,237,000 in the Fraser Valley – up 37% from a year ago and 4.5% from December. Unsurprising given its heightened demand, condominium products won out in terms of month-over-month appreciation, seeing a 4.6% gain from December.

"For references, the benchmark price hasn't seen a month-over-month decrease since May 2020 – nearly two years," states Brittany Reimer.

SALES TO LISTING RATIOS IN THE FRASER VALLEY

Among all product types, sales-to-listings are at 56%, still within the seller's market territory. This reduced ratio is a massive relief from the 92% we saw in December. Condo product saw the tightest supply-demand constraints, with a sales-to-listings ratio of 99%, which is why prices continue upwards.

Check out MLA Advisory's Surrey Centre Neighbourhood Spotlight including a feature on community and market intelligence.

For the latest real estate market data on Greater Vancouver, watch the latest video featuring Ryan Lalonde and Suzana Goncalves. 

We want to hear from you! If you have a real estate question that you'd like us to talk about in our next Pre-sale Pulse, submit your questions to us.

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