Happy New Year and New Decade!



Happy New Year! I hope that you had a wonderful holiday season and that your 2020 is off to a great start! 2019 finished with a bang as overall recorded sales were 88% higher than December 2018 and 9.5% higher than the 10-year December sales average. The market remained busy all the way up to the second week of December which is highly unusual even with reduced inventory. The sales ratio scored 25% for Greater Vancouver and 29% in the Fraser Valley placing both areas firmly into the seller's markets. The valley also had a slight uptick in average overall sales price ending at 9% higher than the same time 2018.

Overall sales for 2019 were below average and we did experience moderate price declines over the course of the year. As Ashley Smith, President of the REBGV stated:

“We didn’t see typical seasonal patterns in 2019. Home buyer demand was quieter in the normally busy spring season and it picked up in the second half of the year. In terms of home values, prices dipped between two and four per cent across the region last year depending on property type.”

The sentiment began to shift in the summer and became progressively more optimistic in the last quarter. I speculate that there may be a strong start to the new year as buyers continue to move off the sidelines and become more active when new inventory becomes available over the upcoming weeks. I'll keep you posted.