March 18, 2022 Fraser Valley March 2022 Pre-Sale Pulse

A RECORD NUMBER OF HOMES ENTERING THE MARKET

"The Valley saw a bit of tension released in its supply and demand imbalance with a record number of homes entering the market. There was a 75% increase from January 2022 and an increase of just under 15% from February 2021, exceeding the previous February record in 2016," states Ryan Lalonde.

“We certainly saw the inventory tap turn on, and March will be a very interesting month for us to watch. With Spring Break coming up, a time we know many like to take time away with the family, it will be interesting to see if that 2-week period disrupts the inventory coming to market as we know many will list either before or after the break," confirms Brittany Reimer.

PRESALE ACROSS THE FRASER VALLEY MARKET

The pre-Spring market has come, and with it, an incredible amount of presale activity. Parkway by Bosa has sold 88% of its inventory at a blended average of $1,100 PPSF – minting new records in Surrey City Centre and the Fraser Valley, hitting much higher numbers on their higher floor inventory.

Prosper and Central Living have been keeping us on our toes waiting for sales commencement. That said, both projects will commence suite selections in early-March.

"[Prosper] moved their suite selection dates at least three times due to delayed approvals. I think this has been felt by developers across the Fraser Valley as short-staffed municipalities struggle to contend with the influx of development applications," says Brittany Reimer.

SUPPLY INCREASES IN RESALE

In February, the Fraser Valley supply came roaring back – setting a record month with a whopping 75% increase in available inventory for Buyers to choose from. This represents the highest number of new listings since 2016. The increase helped drive sales up as well – with volume sitting strong at 18% above the 10-year February sales average. 

We are still very much in an unbalanced market with demand running ahead of supply. One indication of this is that the condo’s in the Fraser Valley saw a 5% price appreciation in just one month as the market continues to feel the pressure. Single-family homes and townhomes notched monthly appreciation of 5.6% and 5.7%, respectively.

Despite the increase in listings, homes are not lasting long before being sold, with the average listing lasting only 11-13 days until sale. For comparison, the one-year average is 21 days for townhomes and SFHs, and 35 for apartments.

"One market to watch out for in particular is Abbotsford – where single-family homes posted a 1-month benchmark price of 9.3% from January," says Brittany Reimer.

The composite benchmark price in the Fraser Valley hit $1.3M – not only is this a historic high, but this also means this is the first time the benchmark price in the Fraser Valley was higher than in Greater Vancouver. The gains we are seeing in the Fraser Valley are a market correction as real estate has historically undervalued homes in the Fraser Valley relative to prices in Greater Vancouver.

Detached and townhome product saw 6.5% and 5.6% month-over-month increases to their benchmark price, while Condominium won out again with the largest monthly increase with a staggering 7.1% appreciation from January.

SALES TO LISTING RATIOS IN THE FRASER VALLEY

While the increase in inventory is great to see it wasn’t enough to significantly move the needle down on the ratios with demand still outpacing supply. The overall sales-to-listings ratio was 48%. Detached homes saw a 46% ratio while similarly to Greater Vancouver, townhome and condo ratios are very similar at 69% for townhome and 67% for condo.

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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