Fraser Valley home prices soften amid heightened inventories

FRASER VALLEY — The Fraser Valley Real Estate Board says home prices in the region maintained their continued decrease for the sixth straight month in September amid rising inventory levels.

In a statement, the board says the Benchmark price for a typical home in the Fraser Valley dipped one per cent in September to $926,300, down 5.4 per cent year-over-year. The continued softening of prices may be spurring some buyers back into the market, as the Fraser Valley Real Estate Board recorded 962 sales on its Multiple Listing Service in September, an increase of three per cent over August.

“As prices continue to weaken, the market is showing hopeful signs of renewed confidence,” said Tore Jacobsen, chair of the Fraser Valley Real Estate Board. “While recent economic uncertainty seems to have weighed more heavily here in the Fraser Valley, some buyers are beginning to re-engage in the market, a positive signal heading into the fall.”

Sellers reemerged in September, with new listings up 23 per cent month-over-month to 3,447; up three per cent year-over-year. Overall inventory remains at decade-high levels, with 10,583 active listings, up one per cent from August and up 17 per cent from September 2024.

Image: REW.ca / The interior of the 2245 Beaver Street home for sale.

The board believes the Fraser Valley remains entrenched in a buyer’s market with an overall sales-to-active listings ratio of nine per cent in September. The market is considered balanced when the ratio is between 12 per cent and 20 per cent.

Across the Fraser Valley in September, the average number of days to sell a single-family detached home was 37 days; while for a townhome it was 38 days. Condos took, on average, 39 days to sell.

“It is unreasonable to single out any one factor or policy driving today’s market dynamics,” said Baldev Gill, CEO of the Fraser Valley Real Estate Board. “That said, there is a growing consensus within the housing and development sector calling for greater measures to incentivize investors to help drive new supply growth, which would certainly have a positive impact on affordability.”

The benchmark price for an FVREB single-family detached home dipped 1.2 per cent to $1,420,000 in September vs. August. Benchmark townhouse prices dropped 1.5 per cent ($795,600) as did apartment prices, which decreased 0.7 per cent to $510,400.

The FVREB has over 5,100 realtors serving Abbotsford, Mission, Langley, Surrey, North Delta and White Rock.