As Chilliwack’s real estate market hits new highs month after month, many say a peak or even a drop in prices and sales must be around the corner.
But basic economics – demand and supply – means prices keep rising as just about everything that hits the market is snapped up quickly.
June 2021 saw 406 sales worth $283 million in the Chilliwack and District Real Estate Board (CADREB) area, the third biggest June ever behind only the years of real estate boom in 2016 and 2017.
Home sales were 13.7 per cent above the five-year average and 20 per cent above the 10-year average for the month of June in CADREB, which includes Chilliwack, Cultus Lake, Agassiz, Harrison Hot Springs, Hope, Boston Bar, and the rural areas in between.
The average selling price of all homes last month was $697,250, which compares to an average sale price of $412,598 five years ago in June 2016, the hottest June ever.
The average single family home sold last month for $829,026, townhouse $570,931, and apartment $342,101.
There were 47 sales over the $1 million mark, including five that sold for more than $2 million.
As Chilliwack has faced month after month of high sales, the continue low supply of homes on the market continues to drive prices up.
“As is the case with many other markets in the province we are still facing a supply crunch, with overall inventories trending at record lows,” CADREB president Andrew Verschuur said in a press release. “If demand were to cool off from scorching levels, this might bring some semblance of balance back to the housing market. However, without any accompanying sustainable level of new listings this isn’t likely to happen, and it’s the lack of new supply coming onto the market to keep pace with demand that’s prolonging the supply shortage and fueling strong double-digit price growth.”
Active residential listings numbered 611 units on the market at the end of June, a substantial decline of 40.2 per cent from the end of June 2020. Active listings haven’t been this low in the month of June in more than three decades.
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TORONTO – One expert predicts Ottawa‘s changes to mortgage rules will help spur demand among potential homebuyers but says policies aimed at driving new supply are needed to address the “core issues” facing the market.
The federal government’s changes, set to come into force mid-December, include a higher price cap for insured mortgages to allow more people to qualify for a mortgage with less than a 20 per cent down payment.
The government will also expand its 30-year mortgage amortization to include first-time homebuyers buying any type of home, as well as anybody buying a newly built home.
CIBC Capital Markets deputy chief economist Benjamin Tal calls it a “significant” move likely to accelerate the recovery of the housing market, a process already underway as interest rates have begun to fall.
However, he says in a note that policymakers should aim to “prevent that from becoming too much of a good thing” through policies geared toward the supply side.
Tal says the main issue is the lack of supply available to respond to Canada’s rapidly increasing population, particularly in major cities.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17,2024.
OTTAWA – The Canadian Real Estate Association says the number of homes sold in August fell compared with a year ago as the market remained largely stuck in a holding pattern despite borrowing costs beginning to come down.
The association says the number of homes sold in August fell 2.1 per cent compared with the same month last year.
On a seasonally adjusted month-over-month basis, national home sales edged up 1.3 per cent from July.
CREA senior economist Shaun Cathcart says that with forecasts of lower interest rates throughout the rest of this year and into 2025, “it makes sense that prospective buyers might continue to hold off for improved affordability, especially since prices are still well behaved in most of the country.”
The national average sale price for August amounted to $649,100, a 0.1 per cent increase compared with a year earlier.
The number of newly listed properties was up 1.1 per cent month-over-month.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2024.
MONTREAL – Two Quebec real estate brokers are facing fines and years-long suspensions for submitting bogus offers on homes to drive up prices during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Christine Girouard has been suspended for 14 years and her business partner, Jonathan Dauphinais-Fortin, has been suspended for nine years after Quebec’s authority of real estate brokerage found they used fake bids to get buyers to raise their offers.
Girouard is a well-known broker who previously starred on a Quebec reality show that follows top real estate agents in the province.
She is facing a fine of $50,000, while Dauphinais-Fortin has been fined $10,000.
The two brokers were suspended in May 2023 after La Presse published an article about their practices.
One buyer ended up paying $40,000 more than his initial offer in 2022 after Girouard and Dauphinais-Fortin concocted a second bid on the house he wanted to buy.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 11, 2024.
