The Fraser Valley Real Estate Board released numbers for February 2011 and there was some positive news on sales trends. The Fraser Valley Real Estate Board serves the communities of North Delta, Surrey, White Rock, Langley, Abbotsford and Mission.

Their numbers showed that they processed 1,279 sales on the Multiple Listing Service® (MLS®) in February, an increase of six per cent compared with 1,204 sold during February 2010, and a 53 per cent increase on the 834 listings that sold in January 2011.

The Fraser Valley real estate market appears to be more active earlier than expected. It appears that the change in mortgage rules, coming up on March 18, are causing the market to heat up. The new mortgage rules mean the end of 35-year amortizations--30 years is the new maximum.

February was a busy month for Fraser Valley REALTORS®; there were sales of 659 detached homes last month compared to 398 in January--more than a 60 per cent increase. A large number of properties also come on stream since last summer; the MLS® received 3,038 new listings in February, and the month finished with 8,680 active listings.

There was mixed news on the benchmark prices for properties: detached homes increased slightly, but townhouses decreased slightly. Apartments prices remained on par year-over-year. The benchmark price for detached homes in the Fraser Valley was $514,161, an increase of 1.2 per cent from the February 2010 price.

The benchmark price of townhouses in the Fraser Valley area was $316,578, a 2.5 per cent decrease on February 2010. The benchmark price of apartments remained roughly the same going from $245,879 in February 2010 to $245,519 in February 2011.

Visit the Fraser Valley Real Estate Board website for full details.