Real estate may finally be cooling in the Chilliwack area with prices for June down slightly from May, and sales numbers down considerably year over year.
With 289 homes sold in June 2018, that’s near the 10-year average, but is down 40 per cent from the 482 homes sold in June 2017, and down even from 324 sold in May 2018.
The reason? The mortgage ball has shifted, according to the Chilliwack and District Real Estate Board (CADREB) as the sellers’ dream a few short months ago has moved to a balanced market.
“The revised rules, which ensure that buyers not only qualify for the amount asked for, but would be able to withstand an interest rate hike, is having a dramatic effect on buyers,” said CADREB president Lori Maier in a press release.
“Combined with a mortgage rate increase expected later this month and a typical slowdown of traffic in the summer months, it has quickly returned to a normalized market.”
And while the average price of a home sold last month was $529,157, a small drop from $538,999 for May 2018, June’s average selling price is up 8.4 per cent year over year, and a whopping 54 per cent since June 2015.
That despite the fact that sales of single family homes and townhouses are dropping with apartment sales remaining steady. At the high end, million-dollar homes used to be almost non-existent in the CADREB area, which includes Agassiz and Hope, but there were eight homes sold over that benchmark in June, four of those over $1.5 million.
Of the 289 sales last month, the highest number of sold stickers (51) were homes in the $400,000 to $499,999 range, followed by 49 sales in the $500,000 to $599,999 range.
Single family homes fell from 263 in June 2017 to 153 last month, townhouses from 113 to 67, while apartments dropped from 68 to 51.
The average price of those three types of properties were $653,949 for houses, $451,618 for townhouses, and $264,137 for apartments.
Listings are back into normal territory with 1,347 at the end of last month up from 956 one year ago.
CADREB strongly advises homeowners, more than ever, to seek pre-approval from their financial institution prior to home shopping.
“There is nothing worse than falling in love with a home, only to find that you do not qualify for the amount of mortgage needed,” Maier said. “Get approved, leave a cushion that you can comfortably afford for closing costs, furniture, appliances or any improvements, and take advantage of the huge variety of homes on the local market.”
A further breakdown on average sale prices for June: The $529,157 last month is up 8.4 per cent over June 2017 at $488,108, which was up 18.3 per cent over the June 2016 average of $412,598, itself up 20.2 per cent over the June 2015 average of $343,367.
That’s a cumulative average home sale price increase of 54 per cent in three years.
• READ MORE: New mortgage rules could cool Chilliwack and district real estate for 2018
• READ MORE: Drop in Chilliwack home sales attributed to ‘stress test’
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The number of active listings at 1,347 is creating a much broader choice of homes in various price categories.