Greater Vancouver home sales fall 10% in October as Fraser Valley prices slip

Buying a home in Surrey, Langley or Abbotsford costs less than it did a year ago. The Fraser Valley Real Estate Board (FVREB) put its all-property benchmark price at $860,000 for October, down 0.1 per cent from September and 6.4 per cent from a year earlier, Daily Hive Vancouver reported. The board's area also includes White Rock, North Delta and Mission.

Sales there picked up. FVREB recorded 1,051 sales, up 14 per cent from 922 in September. CEO Rock Lefebvre said much of the region's pandemic-era price growth has been erased and that affordability is at its best level in five years. The board's condo benchmark was $461,000, down 0.2 per cent from September. Mission's benchmark fell 11.9 per cent from a year earlier.

Greater Vancouver Realtors (GVR), whose area includes Squamish, Whistler and the Sunshine Coast, reported a weaker month. It counted 2,024 sales, down 10.2 per cent from 2,255 a year earlier, with 15,688 homes listed for sale. Its all-property benchmark was $1.069 million, with detached homes at $1.775 million and condos at $673,000. New Westminster's overall benchmark fell 8.8 per cent year over year to $707,000.

GVR chief economist Andrew Lis said election coverage and uncertainty over mortgage rates contributed to buyers and sellers stepping back in October.

Both boards cautioned that higher borrowing costs could undermine the affordability gains from lower prices. The Bank of Canada raised its policy rate by 0.25 per cent in October, a move that bears directly on mortgage costs for buyers weighing those lower prices.