There were 530 residential homes that traded hands locally in April 2016 worth $216.7 million, a 132 per cent increase over the dollar volume of sales for the same month in 2015.
That made it the single largest sales month for the Chilliwack and District Real Estate Board.
The second biggest month ever? One month prior with 494 sales worth $190 million.
It doesn’t take an economics professor to see what this leads to: increased demand coupled with tight supply as fewer homes are being listed means higher prices. And then, landlords not in it for the long haul start to sell while the getting is good. …
There are those coming to Chilliwack looking to rent, thereby increasing competition, but realtors are also seeing an influx of buyers from more expensive locales to the west pushing renters such as Plaza and Monteith out.
Adding to the pressure, if in a small way, Henshall said at Homelife they are getting inquiries from displaced people from Fort McMurray, Alta., recently ravaged by wildfires.
Many struggling to find a place complain that greed is taking over and, because of demand, landlords are jacking up rents because they can get away with it.
What goes up must come down. Or perhaps go up less quickly.