Chilliwack real estate gets wackier: 73 percent of homes selling either at full or above listed prices

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      Last month, the Straight reported that there’s something going on in the market served by the Chilliwack and District Real Estate Board.

      Based on sales of single detached homes in January 2021, buyers in Chilliwack were paying the biggest premiums in all of the Lower Mainland.

      This means that purchasers were making the highest offers relative to the listed price compared to other areas covered by the Greater Vancouver and Fraser Valley real estate boards.

      The trend was observed by Adam Major, managing broker with Holywell Properties.

      When Major looked again, this time including all residential sales in January and February 2021 numbers, and not just detached homes, a bigger picture emerged.

      “Chilliwack is getting wackier,” Major told the Straight.

      In February, the Chilliwack region recorded 529 residential sales.

      This represents not only a 60.8 percent over last month.

      Of the 529 sales, 385 of these sold for either full or above asking price.

      “That is 73 percent of the homes selling at full price or above,” Major said.

      “In February, in a pandemic, in Chilliwack,” he added.

      For comparison, there were 6,918 sales in February 2021 in the combined Vancouver, Fraser Valley and Chilliwack regions.

      Major observed that this was the busiest month since June 2017.

      Of those 6,918 sales in the Lower Mainland, 3,778 or 54.6 percent were for full or above listed price, which pales to the 73 percent of Chilliwack.

      “Crazy, but not Chilliwack crazy,” Major said.

      As an example, Major cited a one-and-a-half-storey rancher at 46920 Second Avenue.

      The two-bedroom home was listed for $425,000 on February 9.

      A buyer took the property for $650,000, or $225,000 above the list price, on February 17.

      That’s a 53 percent premium, the highest in all of the Lower Mainland for the month of February.

      The transaction was tracked by Zealty.ca, a real-estate site operated by Major’s Holywell Properties.

      In January 2021, 329 residential sales were recorded in Chilliwack.

      Of these, 157 went for full or above asking price, or 48 percent.

      For comparison, 4334 sales were made in the combined Greater Vancouver, Fraser Valley, and Chilliwack regions.

      Of these, 39 percent or 1,693 were for full or above listed price. 

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