December is traditionally a slow season for home sales, and while 2024 saw more sales than a year previously, buyers are still not rushing back despite interest rate cuts and government incentives.
Region-wide, sales were at a 10-year-low in 2024, while listings were at a 10-year-high, and nine per cent above the 10-year average.
There were 35,698 new listings reported in the Fraser Valley Real Estate Board (FVREB) area over the course of the year, and 14,570 sales.
The total sales dipped by one per cent from the numbers in 2023, and were 24 per cent below the 10-year average.
In Langley, sales of single-family homes and townhouses rose in December compared to last year, while sales of condos were flat.
There were 61 single-family homes sold in December in Langley, 35.6 per cent more than the same month a year before. Townhouses saw 57 sales, up 50 per cent from December 2023, while 75 condos sold, just a 2.7 per cent increase over the 2023 numbers.
Active listings were higher across the board, with 293 single family homes for sale in December 2024, up 15.4 per cent, 158 townhouses, up 38.6 per cent, and 303 condos, a sizable 46.4 per cent increase year-over-year.
Prices were fractionally higher than a year ago.
The benchmark price – the average price of a "typical" home – stood at $1,606,500 in December, up 0.6 per cent from a year before. Townhouses were going for $862,800, up 0.4 per cent, while condos were $599,900, up 0.9 per cent. All three categories of housing also saw very slight price dips compared to November.
Real estate sales have been slower for the last two years, following a superheated market that began in 2020 during the COVID-19 lockdowns and continued into 2022.
FVREB leaders said that even the Bank of Canada's interest rate cuts – it made five successive cuts starting in June, dropping the overnight lending rate from five per cent to 3.25 per cent – were not enough to make housing more affordable.
“Slight declines in home prices across some areas of the region provided negligible relief for buyers looking to get into the market," said Jeff Chadha, chair of the FVREB. "At the same time, the modest price adjustments did not discourage sellers from listing.”
It's unclear whether policy changes made late in the year will affect the 2025 housing market.
On Dec. 15, the price cap for insured mortgages rose from $1 million to $1.5 million. It was hoped this would allow home buyers to make lower down payments on housing.
At the same time, the federal government allowed 30-year mortgages for first-time homebuyers, and buyers of newly built homes. Longer mortgages were once common, but regulations reduced those steadily starting around 2008, in an effort to avoid a mortgage lending crisis like the one that was at the centre of the financial crisis that led to the Great Recession.
Prices fluctuated throughout the year, but overall moved slightly downward, with the composite benchmark price for a Fraser Valley home at $965,000 at the end of 2024, down two per cent from the previous year, and down four per cent from its March peak.
Within the FVREB's region, which runs from North Delta to Abbotsford, Langley alone represented 24 per cent of all home sales. Surrey saw 51 per cent of total home sales, and Abbotsford 15 per cent.
In Langley through the entire year, 993 detached homes sold, 37.6 per cent fewer than in 2021, and just 3.9 per cent more than in 2019.
There were 927 townhouse sales, 41.8 per cent lower than in 2021, and almost exactly on par with 2019, when 922 sold.
As for condos, 1,103 sold in 2024, down 36.1 per cent from 2021 numbers, but up 33.4 per cent from 2019.
Since 2019, the population of Langley has grown by thousands of people.
