With a 37.8% increase in typical house prices over the past year, the South Delta community of Tsawwassen is leading the entire Lower Mainland market in price appreciation, according to the latest real estate board statistics.
But the January stats show the entire market continues a white-hot pace with the benchmark price of a detached house in the Lower Mainland up 25.4% from a year ago to just over $1 million. In Greater Vancouver, the typical detached house sold in January for an all-time high of $1.29 million, while it tallied $691,000 in the Fraser Valley.
In Tsawwassen, where the largest new enclosed shopping mall in Canada is under construction and a new 10-lane bridge over the Fraser River will open in six years, the benchmark price of a detached house rose to $1 million last month, an increase of about $370,000 from January of last year. Other suburban markets posting price increase of more than 30% include Burnaby East, where the benchmark price for a house rose 36.8% from 2015 and New Westminster, which posted a 32.2% price increase from a year earlier.
Price appreciation in the City of Vancouver was a tad slower, with detached prices rising 28.6% in east Vancouver and 25.1% on the west side, where the benchmark price is now at a record of $2.94 million.
A lack of inventory is helping to keep prices high, according to Darcy McLeod, president of the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver. At 6,635 homes of all types on the market, listings are down nearly 40% from the start of last year.
“Home buyer demand is at near record heights and home seller supply is as low as we’ve seen in many years,” McLeod said.
Last month’s sales were 46% above the 10-year sales average for the month and rank as the second highest January on record, the board reported.
