👀 April 2022 market stats are in!

Happy May Folks!

Well – it wasn’t just a blip in the market for everyone wondering !… Prices are falling in nearly every category in almost every sub-area in the Fraser Valley! From Coquitlam to Mission and from Surrey to Chilliwack…prices have cooled off, inventory has increased, and the volume of sales has plummeted (1579 in the Fraser Valley vs 2862 LAST April!). Keep in MIND however that 1579 is only 20 fewer sales than back in April 2018 so this isn’t anything unprecedented at all…it’s just the RATE of correction has been unprecedented in recent history!

How much have prices actually cooled down? Roughly about 10%-20% since the peak values in the market MID-FEB, depending on what sort of home and what location!

In a few areas prices held relatively the same however some areas dropped as much 11% just in APRIL (Abbotsford Detached houses) and 9% (Delta Condos & Townhomes)!

Update On Interest Rates:

They just went up again in April 50 BASIS points (.5%) and many economists on both sides of the political aisle are forecasting another 2-3 hikes this year. For those paying attention to the USA (you really should) Fed Chair Jerome Powell announced today another 50 basis point increase as well as he referenced “large increases would be on the table” later this year. He went on to note that 75 Basis point hasn’t been talked about just yet but let’s hope that’s where it’s left!

As mentioned several times before – these interest hikes always have a net-negative impact on prices if you evaluate their effect in a vacuum so when we have a potential 2-3 ahead that should give pause when we consider we’ve already come down in prices as much as we have.

Update on Cooling Offer Period:

Those of you who want to know how I “really feel” about this new insane policy (LOL) can read my Facebook post below and you can read the article here >>

Essentially this new policy is going to add a giant wrench into the way conventional Residential Real Estate happens in our Province and will have a clear negative effect on sellers & their values while having a very positive effect for buyers, and for that matter, all of the bad actors who want to take advantage of this too! We have to see where the chips fall on this one once we see some actual language of the bill…but definitely not something I personally support at all with over a dozen far better options provided by our industry, and my hope is that we see some compromises in the actual wording from guidance of our industry leaders…the actual people who know how it’s real estate works LOL 🙂

Lastly – My summary for what to do in the following situations (I had a lot of clients skip right to this part last month!):

1.) If you’re buying AND selling – then just as I said last month, this matters less to you as are buying in the same market. The advice here is to SELL immediately – negotiate a longer close – and then not be in a huge rush to buy as we see inventory increasing faster and faster leading to a better buying environment.

2.) If you’re ONLY selling – Sell tomorrow LOL! Or sell yesterday I should say haha! There is no doubt in my mind that we’ll see things soften for some time to come so if you were considering selling now or in the near future – then sell NOW! If it was either selling now or in 2-3+ years however then I wouldn’t be in the same rush.

3.) If you’re ONLY buying – Same advice here as last month also, I would carefully monitor the market and the kind of homes you’re interested in…but I wouldn’t be in any rush to buy immediately! Prices at best may level off and at worst will likely drop more but inventory (and the choices you’ll have) will only increase giving you at least a better selection and likely a lower price.

Hope this update was helpful for you guys and please, as always, let me know if YOU have any questions or concerns about your own personal Real Estate situation and are always happy to have a chat – Never any obligations :)!

Until next time,

-Corbin

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