The downward slide continues for house prices in Delta.
According to the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver, regional home sales in February experienced an increase from the previous month but an almost 42 per cent drop from February 2016 and were 7.7 per cent below the 10-year February sales average.
“February home sales were well below the record-breaking activity from one year ago and in line with our long-term historical average for the month,” said Dan Morrison, Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver president. “Limited supply and snowy weather were two factors hampering this activity.”
New listings for detached, attached and apartment properties in Metro Vancouver saw a 36.9 per cent decrease compared to February 2016 and an 11.4 per cent decrease compared to this past January.
That’s the lowest number of new listings registered in February since 2003.
As far as the “benchmark price” of detached single-family homes, those continue to decline in the region and Delta is no exception.
The “benchmark” price of a house in Tsawwassen last month was $1,151,300, a one per cent drop from January, while in Ladner it was $947,000, a drop of just over two per cent.
Tsawwassen homes are 7.5 per cent higher than at the same time last year, while Ladner houses are up 6.8 per cent from this time last year.
Prices have been dropping steadily every month since last summer, which coincides with the introduction of the government’s foreign buyer tax for Metro Vancouver.
A proposed class-action lawsuit against the B.C government now argues that 15 per cent tax on foreign homebuyers is unconstitutional and unfairly discriminates against people from Asia.
Meanwhile, North Delta has seen an even sharper decrease.
Although the Fraser Valley Real Estate Board says the housing market returned to more typical levels in February, with sales and new listings on par with the 10-year average, the “average price” for a North Delta house dropped to $859,905. That’s down over 14 per cent from January. It’s also an almost two per cent drop from last year.
