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
â€overâ€
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