The Vancouver Sun shouted at me on Friday morning "FRASER VALLEY HOUSE PRICES AT 8-MONTH LOW". Followed by a nice little graphic showing average prices dropping Surrey (-2.1%), White Rock(-16.3%!), Langley (-1.3%), Abbotsford (-0.1% ooooo!) and Mission (-6.1%). Now I must admit that I was a little surprised by this, but seeing as though I don't work in the Fraser Valley Real Estate Board area I guess its not that surprising. A further look at the November statistics release (available on my website) the numbers are not quite as newsworthy as the Sun would like them to be. Sure the average prices are down and shockingly so in White Rock, but averages can easily skewed by a small number of sales, especially in a small area like White Rock. This was echoed by a number "experts" quoted in the article. The small amount I have ever learned about statistics taught me that median prices are much more useful than averages. The year over year median price changes for those Fraser Valley areas were. Surrey (+5.2%), White Rock (+1.7%) Langley (+1.1%), Abbotsford (+8.5%) and Mission (+5.5%) and that doesn't sound too scary.
The quote from Fraser Valley Real Estate Board President Jim McCaughan in this months statistics release:
“The market typically slows a little at this time of year, which is evident in the decrease in November’s sales and new listings compared to October of this year,” says Jim McCaughan, president of the Board. McCaughan, a 30-year real estate veteran, explains why November 2007 outperformed the same month last year, “It’s thanks to a healthier supply. We’ve had strong demand in the Fraser Valley for essentially the last five years, however we haven’t always had as broad a selection of product. Our recent increase in inventory is what’s keeping sales solid.”
The nice little graph below looks like the Fraser Valley has had a pretty good year really
Matthew Collinge: www.604homes.com - Royal LePage Westside
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