Sales and prices were both down for real estate in Langley in November, with single-family houses in particular seeing steep drops from last year.
According to data released on Dec. 2 by the Fraser Valley Real Estate Board (FVREB), just 59 single-family homes sold in November, a 47.8 per cent decline from the same month last year.
For townhouses, it was 37 sales, a 60 per cent drop, and 86 condos changed hands, a 37.2 per cent drop. Condo sales, however, were up from October’s sales.
The price of single-family housing continued to decline from the peaks it reached in the spring.
The benchmark price of a house in Langley was $1.5 million, down 7.2 per cent from $1.62 million a year ago.
The benchmark price is the average price of a “typical” home, according to the FVREB.
But the average price of the houses that are selling in Langley was far lower.
The average price of a single family home sold in Langley in November was $1.32 million, a 20.7 per cent drop from a year earlier.
The benchmark and average prices of condos and townhouses in Langley, meanwhile, remained relatively close together. For example, a benchmark condo was going for $577,900, while the average price was $535,868.
The benchmark price of a townhouse was $833,200, compared to an average price of $807,378.
The average price of detached homes across the region continued falling almost as fast as it had gone up.
The average started at just above $1 million in early 2020, and peaked at $1.9 million this spring. It’s currently just above $1.3 million.
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After two years of extraordinary home sales and price increases, the housing market began putting on the brakes this year as the Bank of Canada began hiking interest rates.
That meant the costs of a mortgage went up swiftly, and the maximum amount of debt buyers could carry dropped just as fast.
Across the region, sales were down 6.9 per cent from October and 57.5 compared to last November.
“The trends we’ve seen over the past several months will likely continue through to year-end,” said Sandra Benz, president of the FVREB.
She said the rate hikes have put a lot of buyers and sellers in a “holding pattern.”
Although sales have dropped, the number of new listings was also down, by 18.8 per cent compared to this time last year.
However, months of low sales means that inventories of homes for sale are still 74.9 per cent higher than they were last November.
Have a story tip? Email: matthew.claxton@langleyadvancetimes.com
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