No Home prices in Surrey and South Surrey White Rock area are appreciating. Even though there remains a lot of uncertainty related to COVID-19 and its impact on real estate prices, Surrey's housing market has shown a remarkable amount of resiliency. Based on MLS HPI it is evident that the housing prices in Surrey and South Surrey White Rock area peaked in May 2018 and then declined till the end of Dec 2019, before showing signs of price appreciation. Even during the months of March - June 2020 the House Price Index displayed modest growth, i.e, housing prices appreciated, on account of limited inventory of homes for sale.
While home sale activity is still below long-term averages, however the Surrey home market has witnessed an increase in sales in June and July compared to the last year and the spring season. Since the begining of July 2020, several realtors in Surrey have also reported a return to multiple offers on properties and of homes selling well above their asking prices. This was likley driven by the pent up demand, low interest rate environment and buyers adapting to the saftey protocals of buying and selling during the pandemic. It is also likely that some of the demand was driven by the buyers moving from higher density neighbourhoods within the Region to the relatively less dense suburban Surrey neighbourhoods.
Price activity within the Surrey housing market showed an upward growth, average prices of single-family detached home (+7.5), townhomes (+2.6%) and apartments (+0.5%) displayed growth compared to price levels for June 2019. Within Surrey, the benchmark price of a home (residential combined) was at $886,800 by the end of June 2020, up by 0.4% from the month before, and up 3.3% from the same month last year.
Thus home prices in Surrey have stabilized and are appreciating, as compared to some of the other municipalities in British Columbia and the Country. This is likely to make Surrey and South Surrey housing market even more desirable to homebuyers and investors. This suggests that Surrey's housing market will witness continued price growth over the rest of the year. Also, buyers will be best served by buying now rather than waiting for decline in prices which might not materialize in Surrey.