Langley Real Estate

By Jeff Nagel - BC Local News
Published: July 06, 2010 11:00 AM 
Updated: July 08, 2010 9:28 AM

Lower Mainland housing prices softened in June after a continued rebound in the first half of 2010 from recession-bottom lows reached more than a year ago.

Detached houses sold for a benchmark price of $795,025 in June, up 13.4 per cent from a year ago, the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver reported.

Duplexes and townhouses were up 11.6 per cent from a year ago to $492,860 in the Greater Vancouver, while condos gained 9.7 per cent to $391,530.

Although the Greater Vancouver real estate prices were up on a year-over-year basis, they actually slid nearly two per cent from May.

The weaker prices coincided with a darkening global economic outlook and the July 1 arrival of the harmonized sales tax in B.C., adding to the cost of more expensive new homes.

“There has been less upward pressure on prices in our market the last few months, which has allowed prices to ease back from the record high numbers seen in April,” Greater Vancouver board president Jake Moldowan said.

The Fraser Valley Real Estate Board, which includes Surrey, Langley, White Rock and North Delta, reported benchmark detached houses climbed 9.9 per cent from a year ago to $518,350 in June, although most parts of the region were flat or down slightly from May.

Townhouses sold for a benchmark price of $328,000 in June, up nine per cent from a year ago, while typical condos sold for $246,350, a 6.6 per cent one-year gain.

Fraser Valley house prices are now marginally above their previous peak in the spring of 2008, but apartments and townhouses are still short of their all-time highs.

Greater Vancouver benchmark prices are above their previous spring 2008 highs in all categories.

June's real estate sales were down 5.8 per cent in Greater Vancouver, and 30 per cent off from a year ago.

Fraser Valley reported a 23 per cent jump in sales from May – down eight per cent from a year ago.

Board president Deanna Horn said the busier-than-expected June sales pace may have been due to lowered mortgage rates and the impending arrival of the HST.

A rebate of up to $26,250 is to ensure buyers of new homes up to $525,000 pay no more tax than they did before the HST when only GST applied.

Horn predicts the HST will give new housing in the Fraser Valley a selling advantage because most condos, townhomes and even some new single family homes sell for less than $525,000 in the region.

That's less likely to be the case closer to Vancouver, where land values are higher.