Elevated interest rates are giving consumers reason to pause, says the Fraser Valley Real Estate Board
The Fraser Valley housing market continued to decelerate in October, with the elevated interest rate environment compelling consumers to put on hold their home buying and selling plans, according to the Fraser Valley Real Estate Board (FVREB).
The region’s 970 home sales in October represented a 12% monthly decline, marking the fourth straight monthly decrease since the 12-month high of 1,935 sales registered in June.
New listings totalled 2,535 units, falling by 11% monthly and by 28% since the peak of 3,533 listings seen in May. Active listings stood at 6,580 units, ticking up by less than 1% monthly and increasing by 17% annually.
“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 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.”
The Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) has downgraded its home sales forecast for this year and 2024 as higher interest rates bite and would-be buyers step to the sidelines.https://t.co/Hgiyj4Yyci#breakingnews #mortgageindustry #homesales #interestrates #realestate
— Canadian Mortgage Professional Magazine (@CMPmagazine) July 14, 2023
Fraser Valley’s sales-to-active listings was at 15% in October, a level sufficient to be considered indicative of “balanced conditions” in the overall market.
The overall benchmark price continued to fall for the third consecutive month, dropping by 1.4% from September. The single-family detached benchmark price stood at around $1.503 million (down by 1.5% monthly and up by 4.8% annually), while Fraser Valley’s townhomes averaged $845,300 (down by 0.4% monthly and up by 4.7% annually) and apartments averaged $545,400 (down by 0.1% monthly and up by 3.7% annually).
