Development Land Sales in the Fraser Valley Down 81%

By Mike Harrison

We have all felt the dramatic decline in land sales in the Fraser Valley the past few years. Being the nerd I am, I wanted the numbers. In 2023 land transactions fell a whopping 74% and in 2024 they fell another 27%. Combined, this is an 81% decrease since the peak of the market in 2022.

Source: Altus Group Ltd., Fall 2024

Seeing the data certainly explains why it feels like there have been so few transactions and why it has been so difficult to determine land values over the past couple of years. Thankfully, we have come a long way since the initial shock caused by rising interest rates, soaring construction costs, massive municipal fee increases, falling home prices, new provincial housing legislation, regulatory uncertainty, and the toughest land financing environment in ages. There’s probably more to that list, but you get the idea.

Over the past 3-4 months we have seen developers and investors regain some confidence in the future of the housing market, the lending environment loosen its grip, construction costs normalize and sellers begin to accept the new reality of land values. Don’t be discouraged if the data doesn’t reflect a rebound in transaction activity in the short term as the formal reporting by sources like Altus, where we collected this data, is based on completion dates, which, as you know in the Fraser Valley, can often be 6-12 months or even much longer. We may not see the formal data for some time but land transactions are certainly occurring again.