Prices stayed relatively stable but the number of homes for sale inched up across Langley and in neighbouring communities in September, according to data from the Fraser Valley Real Estate Board (FVREB).
Across the region, which stretches from Surrey through to Abbotsford, home sales slipped from August as the summer ended, and the number of homes listed for sale inched up slightly.
“With inventory levels continuing on a slow and steady rise, together with slow sales, what we are seeing is a more balanced market,” said Narinder Bains, chair of the FVREB. “If this trend continues, increased new listings will help to maintain a balanced market, giving buyers greater choice.”
Local realtors have said one of the issues that has caused strong price increases in recent years is a simple lack of supply – there aren’t enough homes to go around.
Langley’s stats were broadly in line with the regional trends.
There were 71 single family detached houses sold in Langley in September, down 14.5 per cent from August, but almost identical to the 73 houses that sold in the same month last year.
Homebuyers bought 53 townhouses, down 31.2 per cent from August’s sales, but very close to the 51 that sold in September 2022. As for condos, 85 changed hands, down 15 per cent from August’s numbers, but significantly higher than the 60 condos that were sold in September last year.
The number of homes actively listed for sale rose across all three housing categories. There were 381 single family houses listed for sale, a 10.1 per cent increase from August, 141 townhouses on the market, up 4.4 per cent from the month before, and 275 condos, 6.2 per cent increase from August.
Prices, meanwhile, barely budged up or down from August.
The benchmark price – the average price for a “typical” home – was $1.63 million in Langley in September. That’s 0.1 per cent below where it was in August. Townhouses, at a benchmark price of $861,200, were up by 0.6 per cent month-over-month, and the benchmark condo was going for $606,500, down 0.9 per cent.
According to the FVREB, the market is currently considered neither a sellers nor a buyers market overall, but is in the balanced zone, where the sales to active listings ratio is 14 per cent. A balanced market is considered one with a ratio of between 12 and 20 per cent. Higher than that is a sellers market, lower and it’s a buyers market.
The relatively small movements in prices over the last few months have been a brief pause in a real estate market that has experienced wild swings over the last several years.
Although locals have complained about real estate prices for years, the COVID-19 pandemic saw a massive spike in prices, especially for single family homes.
At the start of 2020, benchmark prices in the Fraser Valley for single family homes hovered at just under $1 million. By 2022, they had peaked at almost $1.8 million.
Then interest rate increases from the Bank of Canada, intended to curb inflation, caused mortgage interest rates to spike. That led the benchmark rate to fall as far as $1.35 million, before it began to climb again. The benchmark in September for the region was $1.52 million.
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