Neighbourhood Market Focus: Brookswood June 20- July 19, 2014

If you are like many home owners and potential real estate buyers/ investors you pay attention to the activity in the real estate market.  However you may have noticed that while there a number of very good sources that can tell you about region or province wide market activity, there are very few sources of information that can tell you statistically what the market activity is in your local community.  That’s why at Mitten Real Estate team are pleased to provide you the first article in a series called ‘Neighborhood Market Focus’ that will show you what is happening in your local neighborhood based on our ongoing market research and experience. 

Today’s ‘Neighborhood Market Focus’ is on Langley’s Brookswood area market activity from June 20- July 19, 2014.

Since one year ago the ‘Brookswood’ area average sale price of single family detached homes have seen a 9.06% increase.  With the average price single family detached homes increasing from $607,647 (June 20 – July 19, 2013) to $658,140 during this period.  During the last month Brookswood sellers received an average of 98.30% of their asking price which was virtually unchanged from the 98.84% they received in 2013.  The average days it took for single family detached homes in Brookswood to sell during this period is 42.6 days which was up from 22.76 days one year ago.  The reason for that increase was not that the market is slowing but rather that a few properties, that had been for sale for a long period of time finally sold during this last month.  Statically this can be seen because the median ‘days on the market’ was on 22.5 days compared to 20 days a year ago meaning that the average attractively priced single family detached home will sell more quickly than the average 42.6 days on the market.  There were 10 sales of single family detached homes in Brookswood from June 20 – July 19, 2014 which was down from 17 sales one year ago.

There were no sales of Brookswood acreages from June 20- July 19 2014, compared to 2 sales in the same period one year ago.

From June 20 - July 19 there were a total of 18 new listings in Brookswood, 15 were single family detached homes, the remaining 3 new listings were acreages.  In total there were 50 single family detached homes and 19 acreages listed for sale in Brookswood from June 20 – July 19, 2014.

During this period Brookswood saw a total sales to listing ratio of 14%.  The Ratio for sales to listings for single family detached homes was 20%, which is a little lower than the 35% recorded Langley – wide during June 2014.

In conclusion, the Brookswood market has been strong and it is encouraging to see the average sale price up 9%.  Having said that, ‘average sale prices’ does not necessarily reflect an increase in price of 9% because it can be skewed by reflecting more expensive sales or things such as a higher percentage of homes selling that have been renovated and accordingly an average sale price may reflect a higher price.  In this instance.  Based on our perception of the market, it would seem that the higher average sale price is probably reflection both of a stronger market and the fact that because Brookswood typically has larger lots it has become a more and more attractive area for people to buy and renovate homes and accordingly we are seeing a transition trend toward a higher percentage of homes that have been significantly updated.  The Longer selling times was mainly due to a few properties that were on the market for an extended period of time finally selling during this period, meaning that most attractively priced single family detached homes will sell more quickly than the average days show in the chart below.  Additionally, we believe the reason for the reduction in sales of acreages during this period compared to last year may have been due to the new official plan for south Brookswood development being temporarily on hold pending revisions to the plan.

Please check back to see our next article in on market activity in local neighborhoods.  And as always if you have any questions about this article or any other real estate questions please fee free to contact us.  We can be reached either through this website or you can speak with us at 604-882-83844, we would be happy to talk with you.

Sincerely,

Mitten Real Estate Team.