Chilliwack Real Estate 2009 "How Bad Was It"

When you ask a question like "how bad was Chilliwack Real Estate in 2009" the response should be in comparison to what? In this post I look at the sales performance of single family detached houses in Chilliwack from January to today and compare it to the real estate market in the rest of the Fraser Valley (Abbotsford to Delta).  I could have compared it with other years but today I thought a look at another active market might make for more interesting reading as it sort of answers the question "how well are you doing with the market you have got"?

The above chart demonstrates pretty successfully that housing sale prices in the Chilliwack market when compared to sale prices in the Fraser Valley West area (Abbotsford to Delta) tend to rise and fall at similar rates like “water in a bathtub” rising or dropping all prices at the same time.

However, I have expressed a belief in previous posts that it seemed that the Fraser Valley Real Estate market was running away from a slow but steady Chilliwack market. It certainly has in terms of the number of sales, in 2008 the Chilliwack market accounted for 15% of the combined Fraser Valley market in single family detached housing. In 2009, to date that figure has dropped to 13 percent.

The average price spread has also changed with a 1.9% price advantage going to the dwellings in the Fraser Valley west area. These are small but significant numbers they mean that during the course of 2009 single family housing in the western Fraser Valley as compared to Chilliwack increased in value on average by almost $10,000.  The answer in part is of course demand the Chilliwack market has remained in a Buyers market veras the Fraser Valley has been enjoying a Balanced to Sellers market for the latter part of the year.

Why is there such a differnce? Is commuting to Chilliwack becoming less desirable with fuel costs? Media stories that cast Chilliwack in a poor light. The difficult year for employment that Chilliwack has had. The lack of Olympic spinoffs deeper in the Valley? If you have an answer let me know.

RULE OF THUMB

The Chilliwack average single family detached houses as a rule thumb are 2/3 the value of the average Fraser Valley single family detached house. That buys a lot of RRSPs, flat screen televisions, cars and holidays.

The analysis above is based on my interpretation of information provided by the Chilliwack and District Real Estate Board and does not take into account private sales. The term "Chilliwack" is used here quite loosely to refer to an area serviced by the Chilliwack and District Real Estate Board which includes communities such as Chilliwack, Agassiz, Harrison Hot Springs, Hope, Yale and Boston Bar. The Fraser Valley West area embraces the entire Fraser Valley Real Estate Board area which extends from Abbotsford to Delta.

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Stephen Mullock is a Chilliwack real estate associate broker with 29 years of experience. He can be reached at Royal LePage Wheeler Cheam Realty, telephone 604-792-0077.



Copyright December 16, 2009 by Stephen Mullock.