One year from the peak.

The real estate market has been on a bit of a rollercoaster ride in the last year- and mostly just the downhill part. The market in the Fraser Valley peaked in May of 2008 and has since dropped over 10%.

As active Realtors in the industry, we witnessed the usual seasonal slow down in July and August followed by a hesitancy in the marketplace replacing the generally vibrant September activity. By October, the greater extent of the global financial crisis had hit the media and the market came to a screeching halt. The United States and Canadian Federal Elections coupled with economic uncertainty led to almost no sales activity between October, 2008 and January, 2009. The majority of properties that did manage to move between this time period were sales of desperation offered at blowout prices.

As of February this year, the combination of never before seen interest rate lows, coupled with prices falling to levels proving attractive to buyers, have increased the sales activity to a more balanced level. Our inventory (supply of houses for sale) has also fallen from its record breaking high in September 2008 to a more moderate range.

The inventory remained virtually the same month over month from March to April as fewer new homes are entering the market place. Properties that are being offered for sale at market values correctly adjusted to current market conditions are finding willing and able buyers.

This recent surge leads us to believe that we are approaching or possibly even sitting at the bottom end of the recent market slide. We aren't expecting prices to rise any time soon, but rather a more stabilized seasonally level of market conditions sales activities.