Article by Benjamin Tal

 After bleeding workers in recent months, Canadian factories boosted headcount in December, helping employment register its first positive reading after two straight losses. Canadian jobs edged up by 17,500, led by hiring in the manufacturing sector.

However, we don’t expect a renewed pickup in manufacturing hiring as that sector continues to struggle with the pain of an elevated Canadian dollar that’s inflating the wages of manufacturing workers relative to global competitors.

 In the US, employment gains are putting more money in household pockets, but we expect only a slightly stronger-than-consensus retail report for December. All told, not enough here to change the prevailing view that America’s economic engines were in somewhat better shape as 2011 came to a close. December’s pace of hiring in Canada, taken together with the last few months’ employment reports, still suggests a weak deceleration in job creation and economic growth. That’s consistent with our view that Canada’s fourth quarter Gross Domestic Product (the size of our economy with inflation factored in) scaled down to around a 2% annual pace. In December, we forecast that the Bank of Canada would likely continue to hold interest rates steady through to the end of 2013. Governor Mark Carney’s “flexible” targeting approach gives the Bank some latitude in responding to inflation. Notwithstanding the risks created by payroll tax wrangling in the US, we’re sticking with that rate forecast.

 

Fraser Valley Real Estate Board

 

Contact

 

Laurie Dawson, Communications Coordinator laurie.dawson@fvreb.bc.ca

Fraser Valley Real Estate Board Telephone 604.930.7657

Fax 604.930.7623

www.fvreb.bc.ca

 

For Immediate Release: Feb. 6, 2012

 

2012 kicks off with new home price measurement; and, a

 

sluggish start to sales

 

SURREY, BC – The Fraser Valley Real Estate Board’s Multiple Listing Service® (MLS®) processed 799 sales in January, a

decrease of 4 per cent compared to the 834 sales in January last year and 10 per cent fewer than were processed in

December. In the last decade, January 2012 was second only to 2009 for lowest volume.

On the flip side, compared to other starts during the last 10 years, the Board received one of its highest influxes of new

listings for January – 2,753 – 5 per cent more than January 2011 and 143 per cent more than December the month before.

The increase in new inventory raised the volume of active properties in Fraser Valley to 8,320 by the end of January.

Sukh Sidhu is the Board’s president. “For spring house hunters this is great news. For buying power you can’t beat the

combination of greater selection, the continuation of extremely low interest rates and stable prices.”

The Board’s new MLS® Home Price Index (MLS® HPI), launched today, reveals that residential home prices in Fraser Valley

have decreased gradually over the last six months, while still showing increases year

‐over‐

year.

In January, the benchmark price of a detached home in the Fraser Valley was $567,700, an increase of 7.6 per cent

 

compared to $527,500 in January 2011 and an increase of 0.1 per cent compared to December.

 

For townhouses, the benchmark price in January was $314,200, an increase of 2.4 per cent compared to the same month last

 

year when it was $306,800 and down 1.1 per cent compared to December. The benchmark price of apartments in January was

 

$199,600, a decrease of 0.1 per cent compared to January 2011 when it was $199,800 and an increase of 0.3 per cent

 

compared to December.

 

The MLS® Home Price Index (HPI), replacing the Lower Mainland’s MLSLink® Housing Price Index, is a new measure of price for

 

residential properties in five major markets across Canada. It includes Greater Vancouver, Fraser Valley, Calgary, Toronto, and

 

Montreal, with more markets to be added. It was pioneered by six founding partners: the real estate boards of Calgary, Fraser

 

Valley, Greater Montreal, Greater Vancouver, and Greater Toronto and the Canadian Real Estate Association.

 

Sukh Sidhu says the new MLS® HPI will be very helpful to REALTORS® in guiding homeowners. “It’s a bigger, better tool to

 

measure the change in home prices in the Fraser Valley and now we can more accurately compare our market to other major

 

cities in Canada.” Learn more at

 

 

www.homepriceindex.ca

.

 

 

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The Fraser Valley Real Estate Board is an association of 2,894 real estate professionals who live

 

and work in the BC communities of North Delta, Surrey, White Rock, Langley, Abbotsford, and Mission.

 

The FVREB