Average detached home prices in Surrey, Langley seeing double-digit drop
While home prices in Metro Vancouver remain sky-high, the price for single-family detached homes in two of the region's fastest-growing markets have seen a significant dip recently, according to one industry group.
HouseSigma uses AI to compare historical listings and estimate current values in real-time. Its latest data compared prices from February and May 17, 2022.
In Surrey, the average price dropped from $1.9 million to $1.59 million – a decrease of 16.3 per cent. In Langley, the price dropped from $1.75 million to $1.5 million – a decrease of 14.3 per cent.
While higher interest rates are said to be cooling the market in B.C. and beyond, HouseSigma agent Hao Li says there is likely something else at play in these two places. As people flocked outside of the city looking for cheaper housing, the population boom drove up prices. Now, Li says the demand has eased.
"One of the reasons that it is going downward even more is because it's been rising much quicker in those two cities compared to other cities of Greater Vancouver for the past two years," he says.
"We can forecast that the price and the sales volume will drop initially. But as time goes on, will get more stabilized."
In markets and moments like this one, Li says, negotiation becomes something both buyers and sellers begin to focus on.
While Surrey and Langley showed the only double-digit drops, the average price for a single-detached home was down everywhere except for Richmond and West Vancouver.
The latest data from the British Columbia Real Estate Association says the sharp increase in mortgage rates is pushing the province's home sales down “a path to normalizing,” although it estimates a balanced market is at least a year away.
According to the Fraser Valley Real Estate Board, April of 2022 marked the first time sales in the region dropped below the 10-year average,
"We would typically see a flurry of activity around this time of the year,” said FVREB president Sandra Benz in a statement.
“However, that’s not been the case so far. While it’s still too early to say whether this trend will endure, the slowing of sales combined with an increase in active listings is helping to restore a semblance of balance to the market, which is encouraging for homebuyers.”
The board also said the increase in mortgage rates is likely driving down demand but "low inventory" means prices are not likely to see a substantial drop.
The average amount of time a property stayed in the market last month in the Fraser Valley was 16 days for a detached home and 13 days for a townhome or apartment.
With files from The Canadian Press
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Bodies found by U.S. authorities searching for missing B.C. kayakers
United States authorities who have been searching for a pair of missing kayakers from British Columbia since the weekend have recovered two bodies in the nearby San Juan Islands of Washington state.
Amid concerns over 'collateral damage' Trudeau, Freeland defend capital gains tax change
Facing pushback from physicians and businesspeople over the coming increase to the capital gains inclusion rate, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his deputy Chrystia Freeland are standing by their plan to target Canada's highest earners.
'It's discriminatory': Individuals refused entry to Ontario legislature for wearing keffiyeh
Individuals being barred from entering Ontario’s legislature while wearing a keffiyeh say the garment is part of their cultural identity— and the only ones making it political are the politicians banning it.
Tom Mulcair: Park littered with trash after 'pilot project' is perfect symbol of Trudeau governance
Former NDP leader Tom Mulcair says that what's happening now in a trash-littered federal park in Quebec is a perfect metaphor for how the Trudeau government runs things.
Saskatchewan households will continue to receive carbon tax rebate: Trudeau
Households in Saskatchewan will continue to receive Canada Carbon Rebate payments, despite the province refusing to remit the federal carbon price on natural gas, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Tuesday.
'It's just so hard to let it go': Umar Zameer still haunted by death of Toronto police officer
'We hoped for this day, but we were scared that it would not never ever come because it took so long.' That’s what Umar Zameer, the man recently acquitted in the death of a Toronto police officer, told CTV News Toronto in a sit-down interview on Tuesday.
Senate expenses climbed to $7.2 million in 2023, up nearly 30%
Senators in Canada claimed $7.2 million in expenses in 2023, a nearly 30 per cent increase over the previous year.
Canucks goalie Thatcher Demko won't play in Game 2
The Vancouver Canucks will be without all-star goalie Thatcher Demko when they face the Nashville Predators in Game 2 of their first-round playoff series.
Pedestrian, baby injured after stroller struck and dragged by vehicle in Squamish, B.C.
Police say a baby and a pedestrian suffered non-life-threatening injuries after a vehicle struck a baby stroller and dragged it for two blocks before stopping in Squamish, B.C.