On Thursday we published a column by Fraser Valley realtor Brad Richert on the Abbotsford real estate market.
We received a quick reply via the comments section with a different impression including some additional statistics from Abbotsford in April.
That comment provided the following information:
Abbotsford Real Estate April ’13
Detached Homes- Benchmark Price is down from last month
- Median Price is down from last month
- Average Price is down from last month
For the ful statistics package from the Fraser Valley Real Estate Board simply click here.
In the month of April, Abbotsford had 10 detached home sales under the price of $300,000 & one of those under $85,000. Comparatively, the month of Mary had 4 detached home sales under the price of $300,000 with the lowest being around $180,000.
No, you’re home value did not drop rapidly from March to April. When looking at approximately 100 sales per month, high priced and low priced sales can dramatically effect the outcome, but the “typical” home on the market is unaffected.
Homeowners should be concerned with long-term benchmark prices (the benchmark is what a hypothetical typical home in your market goes for) and the trend of sales-to-listing ratio (amount of sales vs. amount of listings). If we have an increase of sales in a month, this is a good thing, but not so if listings also increase. If sales are up and listings are down, basic supply and demand takes effect and values increase – although there can be a lag. If the sales-to-listing ratio remains where it is now for 3-4 months, expect to see values also rise. However, if too many homeowners start listing and the sales do not match, we would eventually see a decrease in values.
Sales to Listing & Benchmark Prices (2012/2013 comparisons)
January 2012 9.9 407200
February 2012 11.9 409700
March 2012 15.3 418900
April 2012 15.1 418900
January 2013 10.5 417300
February 2013 13 423700
March 2013 14.6 429100
April 2013 18.8 426600