Fraser Valley Seeing Low Number of Active Listings

The number of active listings, or lack therof, is keeping a floor under home prices in the Fraser Valley it seems. The region is currently seeing fewer than 4,000 active listings as of the time of this blog post, to start off the spring 2023 selling season.

See chart below.

Today's number of active listings is incredibly low by historical standards, although still better than early 2022.

In my opinion, we will need to see a return to about 6,000 to 8,000 active listings for the Fraser Valley housing market to return to a healthier and more normal balance of supply, to meet steady demand. Obviously, this would be a huge increase over current levels. 

One reason people may not be listing and moving is that they are still benefiting from and want to hold onto mortgage rates that they may have secured in recent years. Such mortgage rates, especially during the pandemic, were incredibly low. Record setting low. Selling and moving might mean homeowners lose these low rates and then have to refinance at today's higher rates. 

Perhaps as mortgages come up for renewal, current homeowners may be more inclined to put their homes up for sale. 

Unless and until we see a rise in active listings, prices seem to be holding steady for now at least. The number of new and active listings will be the key stats that I will be paying close attention to this year. These numbers should give more clarity to which direction the market may move next, in terms of prices.