Metro Vancouver
I’m offering a prize for my clients in Metro Vancouver this month. Can you correctly guess when the composite benchmark price for a residential property in Greater Vancouver will exceed $1-million, and by how much? Here are some clues: In April this year it was $906,700, which was a 1.2 per cent increase over January 2017. In June, it was $998,700, a 1.8 per cent increase over May. Based on the recent rate of monthly increases, it could break the $1-million (Canadian) mark very soon. For the person who guesses the closest price over $1-million and in which month this occurs, as reported in the MLS Home Price Index of the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver, I will prepare a customized Comparative Market Analysis (CMA) of your current property. Each CMA is an estimate of the owner’s house value using its condition, location (neighbourhood study), real estate market study, and recently sold homes in the same area. Send me your guesses zhangsibo@hotmail.com by the end of this month (July 2017), and our winner(s) will be announced in a coming newsletter in mid August 2017. Be sure to include your name and phone number so we can collaborate on your CMA. And please be assured, this isn’t a sales pitch or a solicitation. I love to crunch numbers for my clients.
The Greater Vancouver area includes Whistler, Sunshine Coast, Squamish, West Vancouver, North Vancouver, Vancouver, Burnaby, New Westminster, Richmond, Port Moody, Port Coquitlam, Coquitlam, Pitt Meadows, Maple Ridge, and South Delta. The composite benchmark price for residential properties is an average for comparable residential properties in Metro Vancouver, including Single Family Detached homes, Apartments, and Townhouses.
Fraser Valley
I’m making the same prize offer to my clients interested in Fraser Valley properties. Here the combined benchmark price for all residential properties was $703,900 for the month of June 2017. This was a 10.3 per cent increase over six months ago and a 2.0 per cent increase over the preceding month of May. The recent rate of monthly increases suggests a similar price rise in coming months, although the $1-million mark for the combined benchmark price will likely lag Metro Vancouver by a few months. One interesting observation in the Fraser Valley market is that apartment sales are currently the hottest driver of demand pricing, with 27 per cent of all sales activity in the Valley in June – a 12.2 per cent increase over May sales. Apartment and townhouse price increases in the Valley have the fastest rate of price increases at present, so watching how they factor into the overall benchmark price is important. The benchmark price for a Valley apartment in June was $325,300 and for a townhouse, $467,000. This represents a three-month increase of 9.4 per cent and 7.7 per cent respectively. I will look forward to your guesses for breaking $1-million mark in the Fraser Valley’s combined benchmark price, in like manner to my Metro Vancouver challenge above. And if you happen to win both predictions, you can designate one of your prizes of my Comparative Market Analysis to a friend of your choice.
The Fraser Valley area includes North Delta, Surrey, White Rock, Langley, Abbotsford, and Mission. The combined benchmark price is for all residential properties described as Single Family Detached, Apartments and Townhouses as reported by the Fraser Valley Real Estate Board.