Home buyers spoiled for choice across Metro Vancouver and Fraser Valley, listings up year-over-year

November marked another slow month for home sales and listings in the Fraser Valley, with the region’s real estate board saying it was the ninth “slowest November in a decade.”

The Fraser Valley Real Estate Board (FVREB) explains the market is continuing to cool as we head into the holiday season, and buyers and sellers are likely busy with other priorities.

The board says it recorded 891 transactions in November, a drop of eight per cent from October.

“We anticipate this holding pattern, defined by slow sales and declining new listings, will continue through the winter months until we see some downward movement in interest rates,” said Narinder Bains, chair of the FVREB.

The board says active listings also fell by five per cent in November from October, however, overall listings were up by 17 per cent over November 2022.

“With seasonality and high-interest rates continuing to dampen sales activity, we expect to see sales slow further into early 2024,” said FVREB CEO Baldev Gill. “However, even a slow market can present opportunities.”

The FVREB says the benchmark price of a single-family detached home in the region decreased by just under one per cent in the last month, to $1,489,1000 — an increase of 6.2 per cent over November 2022.

Townhomes in the region were seeing a benchmark price of $837,200 in November, with apartments coming in at $545,300, the board says.

The FVREB covers the Lower Mainland communities of Abbotsford, Langley, Mission, North Delta, Surrey, and White Rock.

Metro Vancouver home buyers have plenty of choice: REBGV

Meanwhile, the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV) says, given the increase in housing inventory in that region, “home buyers across Metro Vancouver have among the largest selection to choose from since 2021.”

The REBGV says there were 3,369 properties for sale in that region in November, marking an almost 10 per cent increase since November 2022.

It adds residential sales in Greater Vancouver topped 1,700 last month — 33 per cent below the region’s 10-year seasonal average.

“We’ve been watching the number of active listings in our market increase over the past few months, which is giving buyers more to choose from than they’ve been used to seeing over the past few years,” Andrew Lis, REBGV’s director of economics and data analytics said.

“When paired with the seasonal slowdown in sales we typically see this time of year, this increase in supply is creating balanced conditions across Metro Vancouver’s housing market.”

The REBGV covers Bowen Island, Burnaby, Coquitlam, Maple Ridge, New Westminster, North Vancouver, Pitt Meadows, Port Coquitlam, Port Moody, Richmond, South Delta, Squamish, the Sunshine Coast, Vancouver, West Vancouver, and Whistler.