Chilliwack homes sales in July jumped by 25 per cent over sales in the same month last year.
Whether the increase stemmed from buyers getting out after the wet weather and flood threats of June, or because of continuing low interest rates, Cynthia Admiraal, president of the Chilliwack & District Real Estate board, could not say for sure.
But resale housing demand came in "much stronger than expected in July," she said.
"In fact, when you adjust the data to account for normal seasonal variations, July was actually the strongest month for home sales in the region since late 2009."
The average house price in Chilliwack was $312,418, up by one per cent over July, 2011.
That's still a more affordable price than houses located in the Vancouver area, which should keep buyers interested in looking at Chilliwack.
And Admiraal said she expects sales in Chilliwack will get stronger by the end of the year.
There were 8.3 months of housing "inventory" in Chilliwack at the end of July, down from the 10.6 months reported at the same time last year. The number of months of inventory is the number of months it would take to sell current inventories at the current rate of sales activity.
There were 1,852 active residential listings in Chilliwack on the MLS system at the end of July, down three per cent from July, 2011.
The combined dollar value of Chilliwack home sales in July totaled $69.7 million, up 26 per cent over the dollar volume reported last July. The total value of all properties sold in July was $74.1 million, up 21 per cent on year-over-year basis.
rfreeman@theprogress.com
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