How high is our inventory really?

Yes, the current inventory of the Fraser Valley Real Estate Board is at an all time high of 12,300 units, but is this figure as scary as it sounds?

The previous record that has just been broken was set in 1995 when the inventory levels reached 12,000.  The local real estate market in Langley was fairly stagnant at the time.  Keep in mind, the population of the Township of Langley (TOL) was approximately 65,000 in 1995.  This means that there were 0.18 listings in the Fraser Valley for every resident of the TOL.  This is not an entirely useful figure; however it will work for the purpose of comparison.

The current population in the TOL is approximately 100,000.  With a listing inventor of 12,300 in the Fraser Valley, this works out to .12 listings for every resident of the TOL.  Our listing inventory would have to rise to over 18,000 units to be a comparably dismal market to that of the mid 90's. 

Even in the slowest market we've seen in the last few decades, housing prices managed to hang on, in fact remaining relatively unchanged from 1993 to 2003.  Much of the boom cycle that we've seen over the last 5 years can be attributed to "catching" up for the previous 10 years of stagnant growth.

In conclusion, it is going to take more that the currently high level of inventory for us to witness more than a minor correction in the price of housing.

-Tyler Schacter