Detached Home Statistics for June 2012
Anyone looking at this month's average price of over one million dollars for a detached house in WhiteRock would assume that the White Rock South Surrey real estate market is still firmly in favour of the
sellers. But is that really the case?
The statistics above compare prices and volume of sales and listings for detached houses. The table offers
percentage differences compared to the previous month as well as the same month in the previous year.
Looking at the average price, we see an increase of 14.3% over last year and 5.5% over May. The median
price is also up significantly over last year and 3.4% up over May. Only when we look at the numbers
for the Benchmark Price do we see a different pattern, with a modest 5.9% increase over last June and a
slight decrease of 0.1% compared to May 2012. If you were to check the numbers in my previous quarterly
report, you would again notice that June’s average and median prices are higher. However, same cannot be
said when comparing the benchmark prices for March and June.
Although none of the methods for comparing prices is perfect, the benchmark price is least likely to be
skewed by few unusual very high or very low sale prices as is often the case with the average sales price.
The median price is susceptible to unusually high or low numbers of sales occurring in a particular
segment of the market, as might happen when the government introduces a particularly first time buyer
programme leading to a run on entry level homes. The benchmark price tries to compare the selling price
of properties with the same characteristics and thus is more likely to give a more accurate idea of where
prices are going since it is less apt to be skewed by any of the factors aforementioned.
Looking at year to date numbers for our area, we have had 583 detached sales in the first half of 2012
42.9% less than last year’s total of 1004. Houses are selling at about 95% of their listed price compared to
over 97% last year. They are taking 51 days on average to sell, 10 more than last year, and there are 35%
more listings available for a buyer to choose from. Obviously numbers like this would not give cause for a
run-up in prices so I have to conclude that the benchmark price is a better indication of the current price
trend.
Townhouse and apartment sales are almost even with last year’s six month total and prices haven’t
experienced as much fluctuation as detached has. Regardless, with significant increases in inventory for
both types, the buyer will probably reign in the attached market as well.
