There was little time for real estate agents to relax and enjoy the beautiful summer weather that we just experienced, as the near record-setting trend in sales continued through July, August and September. According to Fraser Valley overall statistics, September’s sales were on a par with September 2005 and second only to September’s all-time high for sales in 1992.

Drilling down to our neck of the woods here in White Rock/South Surrey, detached sales continued to lead the way with a 19.6% increase over last September and a whopping 16.6% increase in the benchmark price. Although townhouses also experienced a surge of 44% in number of sales, it did not translate to a corresponding increase in any price index whether it be benchmark, median or average. Apartment sales actually decreased slightly compared to September 2014, but there was a slight increase of 3.8% in the benchmark price giving a glimmer of hope to the beleaguered apartment sector.

One statistic in which all three categories are consistent is the decreases in the number of active listings of  between 20.5% and 22.6%. The sales to listings ratio for houses is 25.51% and the townhouse ratio sits at a remarkable 38.01%; both numbers indicating a strong seller’s market. By contrast, the ratio for apartments is only around 19%. Houses and townhouses are taking 37.1 days to sell while apartments are taking over 58 days to generate a firm sale on the ones that sell. There were 299 active apartment listings compared to 171 active townhouse listings at the end of September. Given these numbers it is strange that the prices of townhouses haven’t kept pace with the other upward trending indicators.

With house prices at levels few can afford, it is to be expected that the townhouse market should continue to experience upward pressure as families look for a more affordable housing alternative. I think it is only a matter of time before townhouse prices see a rise in prices to complement the increase in sales. Apartments on the other hand, still have a long way to go before we see prices appreciating substantially.

It will be interesting to see if the unusually active summer market morphs into a similarly unusually active fall market. There is a lot going on in the world now and with the upcoming Canadian election, it is anybody’s guess as to what will happen in the next few months. However one thing is abundantly clear, we are very fortunate to live where we do, in Canada and particularly right here on the Peninsula, and much of the world knows it. Long term, there will only be more pressure on our real estate market as others try to share in our good fortune.