Happy New Year! I hope that you had a wonderful holiday season and that your 2019 is off to a great start!

 

 

 

With the arrival of the new year, many people make resolutions or goals for the year. I am typically not the type to wait for the new year to do this, however, this year I have set myself a goal to sell 30 homes by the end of 2019 (which would have put me in the top 5% of agents in 2018!) I would absolutely love your help in achieving this goal, and if you have or come across any friends or family members who are thinking of making a move in 2019 it would be beyond appreciated if you passed my name along to them! Of course if you have a goal of buying or selling this year, I know that I can help make that goal become reality for you!

With 2018 coming to an end, we can officially say that the insanity of our market is over!

We saw a 30% decrease in sales year to year, with 15,586 sales in 2018, compared to 22,338 sales in 2017. While this seems like a concerning number, it actually is not; The 10 year average for annual sales in the Fraser Valley is 16,871 sales per year, and that is including the last 3 years that have been extraordinarily high activity years.

December 2018 saw a total of 800 sales, which is quite low. This is not uncommon in a transitioning market however, as buyer’s speculate that prices will continue to decrease, yet many sellers are refusing to accept the fact that homes are not worth the same as they were 8 months ago.

Over the course of 2018, condos increased in price by 8%, townhomes increased by 4% and detached homes decreased by 1.5%. Looking at these numbers alone does make the panic that some sellers are currently feeling seem a little unnecessary as their home likely has not significantly dropped year to year, just since the peak.

To put this into even more perspective, compared to 3 years ago condos have increased 85%, townhomes are up 69% and detached homes have increased 45%. Last time I checked, 45% appreciation over 3 years is not something to be upset about!

It is forecasted that prices will decrease another 9% in 2019 and 4% in 2020. If you take into account that condos have increased at almost double the rate that single family homes have over the last 3 years, speculation could be made that condos and townhomes will see their prices decrease at a greater rate than detached homes.

However, the argument could be made that affordability will keep the lower priced homes, which tend be condos and townhomes, as a slightly stronger market than detached homes. The other side of the coin on this argument is that detached homes come with exclusive use of the land on which they are built. Remember, you can always build a new home on a piece of land, but we cannot create new land!

Interest rates are forecasted to continue to rise as well, which will certainly have an impact on affordability as 1% increase in interest rates is the equivalent of a decrease of 10% of ones buying power.

The market shifting downwards in price and activity may seem scary, but in the long run it is best for everyone as prices increasing too much will mean there is no one left to buy your home, and of course prices coming down as they have will allow more buyers to get into the market. If the concern is that you have left money on the table when your homes sells, keep in mind that the next home you will be purchasing has also decreased.

As always, please feel free to reach out to me any time with any questions you might have!

Happy 2019 to all!

 

• Single Family Detached:At $956,300 the Benchmark price for a single family detached home in the Fraser Valley decreased 1.1% compared to November 2018 and increased 1.5% compared to December 2017.
• Townhomes:At $531,900 the Benchmark price for a townhome in the Fraser Valley in the Fraser Valley decreased 0.2% compared to November 2018 and increased 3.7% compared to December 2017.
• Apartments:At $418,300 the Benchmark price for apartments/condos in the Fraser Valley decreased 1% compared to November 2018 and increased 7.6% compared to December 2017.