Coquitlam Condo by Reg Natarajan
Buying or selling properties in the Greater Vancouver Regional District has been a very good investment for as long as we can remember, especially in the long run. Whether you’re considering buying or selling a house or condo or investing in commercial real estate, knowledge of the community of your interest is the key to a successful and non-stressful transaction. That’s why we bring you regular analyses on the housing market statistics for each of the wonderful Vancouver neighbourhoods. Following our analyses of the Port Moody and Port Coquitlam real estate markets, we bring you the largest of the Tri-City entities, Coquitlam.
Coquitlam is a rather large municipality in the Metro Vancouver area with over 120,000 inhabitants and a very lively real estate market. With tons of opportunities for recreation, easy access to mountains, parks and trails, and business, employment, and urban lifestyle opportunities, Coquitlam is a very sought-after yet affordable community in Metro Vancouver.
Coquitlam Real Estate
Year Over Year Price Index
for Coquitlam July 2011
The Coquitlam real estate market comprises a lot of properties and a large number of listed and sold properties each month. That is one of the reasons why the average numbers for Coquitlam real estate may seem a bit uniform and closer to the Greater Vancouver residential average than other, smaller municipalities. The average price for a Coquitlam detached house was $735,218 in July 2011, which is 16 per cent higher than a typical average residential property in the overall Metro Vancouver area (for all residential housing types). The price was 7.6 per cent higher than a year before, but only 6.1 per cent higher than in July 2008. Attached housing prices went up by 6.5 per cent in a year-over-year comparison, reaching $460,035 for a benchmark property. This was up 9.0 per cent from the July 2008 average price. Apartments were traditionally the least expensive sector, with an average price of $292,561 for a typical condo in Coquitlam in July 2011. Apartment prices moderated in a year-over-year comparison by 1.2 per cent, and went up by only 1 per cent compared to July 2008, although the prices are 15.1 per cent higher than in July 2006.
The Housing Price Index for Coquitlam
Price Index for Coquitlam Three Year Trend
The Housing Price Index measures the hike in prices for a typical property over time. It’s measured by HPI percentage points, with a starting point in 2001, when the index was set to 100. The Greater Vancouver residential average reached 266.2 points in July 2011, while detached Coquitlam houses hit 258.6 HPI points, attached houses reached 248.2 points, and apartments in Coquitlam recorded 249.5 points.
When we look at the three-year trend lines for all three of Coquitlam’s housing types and the Greater Vancouver residential average, we can clearly see that all three housing types follow each other and the Greater Vancouver residential average trend line closely. Detached housing fluctuates the most, followed by attached housing and apartments. Since the real estate market slump at the end of 2008 and the beginning of 2009, attached houses’ trend line has remained under the Greater Vancouver average trend line, with a major downturn in fall 2010. Attached prices have since recovered. The apartment price increase trend line remained slightly above the residential average trend line until February 2011, when it levelled off and went down considerably in June 2011. Detached houses followed the trend line quite closely until September 2009, when a dip occurred, but rebounded after one month. Two other spikes happened in February and April 2010, when the index jumped by about fifteen points to reach more than 250 HPI points each time. After the recovery from these peaks, the index continued rising, with minor oscillations towards the current all-time record value of 258.6 HPI points.