Property prices dropping farther in Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows

The statistics from the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver show some sharp declines in the Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows market.

The 76 detached home sales from the two cities last month is well down from 126 in February of 2022. Over the past three months houses and townhouse sales are down 41 per cent compared with the same period last year, and apartments sales have dropped 57 per cent.

The price of a single family detached home in Maple Ridge is down more than 20 per cent in Maple Ridge compared with a year ago, dropping to $1.17 million, and the price in Pitt Meadows is down 26 per cent to $1.12 million.

In the past year, the residential composite price, which takes in all housing types – houses, townhouses and condos – is down 19 per cent in the two cities. That compares with a drop of approximately nine per cent across Greater Vancouver.

The numbers don’t tell the whole picture, cautioned Andrew Lis, REBGV’s director, economics and data analytics.

Firstly, he said the comparison is being made to the market’s all-time hottest time last spring, before rising interest rates over the winter cooled things off considerably.

He said the house price numbers are based on the price of what has sold in a given month in a community, so may not be reflective of the market as a whole.

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Lis is actually optimistic that the market is stabilizing, as property buyers move on and accept the realities of a changed marketplace.

“Prices seem to have stabilized, and in some markets they’re ticking up just a bit,” he said, adding that the market appears to be on a more solid foundation.

Across the region, the February listing data showed a continued reluctance among prospective home sellers to engage in Metro Vancouver’s housing market, leading to below-average sales activity. With sales remaining well-below historical norms, the number of available homes for sale in the region have continued inching upwards.

The REBGV reports home sales in the region totalled 1,808 in February 2023, which was a 47.2 per cent decrease from the 3,424 sales recorded in February 2022, and a 76.9 per cent increase from the 1,022 homes sold in January 2023.

Last month’s sales were 33 per cent below the 10-year February sales average.

“It’s hard to sell what you don’t have, and with new listing activity remaining among the lowest in recent history, sales are struggling to hit typical levels for this point in the year,” said Lis. “On the plus side for prospective buyers, the below-average sales activity is allowing inventory to accumulate, which is keeping market conditions from straying too deeply into sellers’ market territory, particularly in the more affordably priced segments.”

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