Hi everyone
I hope your March is off to a fantastic start, we are officially more than 16% of the way through 2020! It is absolutely crazy how fast this year is going by.
For this month’s Market update I thought it would be valuable to compare February 2020 to January 2020 directly and then compare February 2020 to February 2019 to examine how things have changed from exactly one year ago.
Median Pricing
To start this discussion let’s look at the median pricing for the four housing classes we examine in the Fraser Valley; Apartments, Townhomes, Detached homes and homes with Acreage.
Apartments Median Pricing;
February 2020- $385,950
January 2020- $372,500
February 2019- $380,000
Townhomes Median Pricing
February 2020- $579,450
January 2020- $570,000
February 2019- $560,000
Detached Median Pricing
February 2020- 981,000
January 2020- 969,000
February 2019- 937,500
Homes with Acreage
February 2020- 1,830,000
January 2020- 1,640,000
February 2019- 1,650,000
My Interpretation
Overall across all housing classes prices are trending up with the most variance month to month in apartments and homes with acreage.
Sales to Actives Ratio (S/A)
Now let’s look at the Sales to Active ratio. I love the sales to actives ratio as a metric to determine the speed of the market and who is favoured in specific housing classes. If the sales to actives ratio is between 12% & 20%, we define this as a balanced market. Less than 12% favours the buyer, greater than 20% favours the Seller.
Apartments (S/A)
February 2020- 26.5% (seller’s market)
January 2020- 23% (seller’s market)
February 2019- 20.1% (seller’s market)
Townhomes (S/A)
February 2020- 37% (seller’s market)
January 2020- 27.9% (seller’s market)
February 2019- 20.3% (seller’s market)
Detached Homes (S/A)
February 2020- 25.7% (seller’s market)
January 2020- 18.3% (balanced market)
February 2019- 13.4% (balanced market)
Homes with Acreage (S/A)
February 2020- 8.4% (buyer’s market)
January 2020- 6.5% (buyer’s market)
February 2019- 4.9% (buyer’s market)
My Interpretation
The market is holistically moving towards a seller’s market. The most surprising to me is the absorption of townhomes and apartments given the strata insurance increases for both the individual owners and strata corporation.
Active Listings
Quite simply, active listings are the number of homes for sale in a given housing class across the Fraser Valley.
Apartments
February 2020- 1,187
January 2020- 1,074
February 2019- 1,436
Townhomes
February 2020- 919
January 2020- 864
February 2019- 1,160
Detached Homes
February 2020- 2,077
January 2020- 1,986
February 2019- 2,606
Homes with Acreage
February 2020- 357
January 2020- 323
February 2019- 390
Interpretation
Across all housing classes there is historically low inventory however it does appear to be recovering. The strongest market for seller’s right now is the townhome market, with historically low inventory and high S/A there is a lot of pent up demand for that housing class.
Sales
The number of transactions in a given housing class.
Apartments
February 2020- 314
January 2020- 247
February 2019- 288
Townhomes
February 2020- 340
January 2020- 241
February 2019- 235
Detached Homes
February 2020- 534
January 2020- 363
February 2019- 350
Homes with Acreage
February 2020- 30
January 2020- 21
February 2019- 19
Interpretation
More activity across every housing class month over month and even year over year, given the overall decrease in inventory it is easy to see why the market is beginning to turn toward the seller.
New Listings
Listings that came onto the market in a given month.
Apartments
February 2020- 630
January 2020- 522
February 2019- 589
Townhomes
February 2020- 556
January 2020- 493
February 2019- 480
Detached Homes
February 2020- 945
January 2020- 792
February 2019- 768
Homes with Acreage
February 2020- 103
January 2020- 94
February 2019- 58
Interpretation
After relatively low inventory across the winter months it appears that Sellers are seeing an opportunity to potentially cash in on some pent-up demand and are listing their homes at a more rapid rate than they were a year ago across all housing classes.
Summary
Where I see the biggest opportunity right now-
Quite frankly, across all housing classes, it’s a good time to sell. Every home has experienced appreciation in year over year median price and the S/A has increased across all housing classes. Inventory appears to be recovering but is still low so if your home presents value to the market you should get fantastic traction.
Right now, I feel the biggest opportunity is for folks looking to upgrade from a townhouse to a detached home. With sales up and inventory down and S/A at 37% this is a very strong market for folks living in townhomes.
I hope this Market update was helpful if I can be of any service please don’t hesitate to call, text or email.