December has come to a close, finishing off the biggest year in Fraser Valley real estate with a return to normality.
In December the Board processed 966 sales, a decrease of 37.4 per cent compared to December of 2015, but level with the ten-year average for the month. For inventory, 829 new listings were received by the MLS® last month, a decrease of 53.7 per cent compared to November 2016, and a decrease of 35.9 per cent compared to December of last year. Similarly, active inventory was down both year-over-year and month-over-month, at only 3,930 listings at month’s end.
Annually, however, this was an astounding year for the Fraser Valley market. The Board’s MLS® processed 23,974 sales in 2016, 12.6 per cent more than the previous record for sales in one year, set at 21,282 sales in 2005. The total dollar volume of MLS® sales was a record setting $16.2 billion, four billion more than the previous record set in 2015.
Board President Charles Wiebe: “The Fraser Valley market was consistently strong throughout 2016, and at times tremendously active. However, at year’s end, we see sales returning to more typical levels and low overall inventory.”
For inventory, a total of 34,768 new listings were received by the Board’s MLS® system during 2016, the second highest in the Board’s history and only 883 behind the 35,651 received in 2008.
“The Fraser Valley market was consistently strong throughout 2016, and at times tremendously active. However, at year’s end, we see sales returning to more typical levels and low overall inventory.”
The number of days to sell a single family detached home in the Fraser Valley for December 2016 was 41 days, compared to 39 days to sale average at this time last year. For the year, however, the average days to sell for this property type was drastically less at only 21 days. This of course is heavily influenced on the hectic market pace seen in the spring and summer months.
HPI® Benchmark Price Activity
- Single Family Detached: At $860,800, the Benchmark price for a single family detached home in the Valley decreased 1.3 per cent compared to October 2016, and increased 30.5 per cent compared to November 2015.
- Townhomes: At $424,300 the Benchmark price for a townhome in the Fraser Valley increased 0.7 per cent compared to October 2016, and increased 33.1 per cent compared to November 2015.
- Apartments: At $258,600, the Benchmark price for apartments/condos in the Fraser Valley increased 1.7 per cent compared to October 2016, and increased 24.9 per cent compared to November 2015.
And that’s it for this year’s market coverage! For more information on year-end numbers and data, see our previous ‘This year, by the numbers‘ post. And to view the full stats package for December 2016, click here.