The Fraser Valley Real Estate Board released its October 2026 statistics package on November 3. Board wide it was a seasonal lift inside a buyer's market: 1,051 sales, up 14.0% from September and down 6.4% from October 2025, and a composite benchmark of $860,000, down 6.4% from a year ago.
South Surrey and White Rock went the other way on sales and the other way on condo prices. Both are worth a closer look.
Sales slowed here while the valley picked up
FVREB reports White Rock and South Surrey as one area. Across the three main property types it recorded 135 sales in October, against 150 in September and 156 in October 2025. That is down 10.0% in the month while the board rose 14.0%.
Detached: 54 sales, against 60 in September and 58 a year ago. Townhouse: 35, against 47 and 50. Apartment: 46, against 43 and 48. The townhouse drop is the big one, down 30.0% on last October. Condos were the only type here to sell more than in September.
September looked like buyers coming back. October says some of that was the month, not the trend.
Detached: the benchmark barely moved, the median fell
The detached benchmark was $1.607M, down 0.4% from September and down 6.3% from $1.715M in October 2025. The median sale price was $1.553M, down 13.1% year over year, and the average was $1.665M, down 16.7%.
Those numbers disagree because they measure different things. The benchmark is quality adjusted, so it tracks what a typical home here would sell for. The median and average only describe what happened to sell. In September the median sat above the benchmark. In October it fell below it by $54,000. Fewer large sales closed. If you read a headline saying South Surrey house prices fell 17% in a year, that is the average, and it is not the number to price from. Use the benchmark.
There were 559 active detached listings at month end, down 10.1% from a year ago, and 155 new listings.
Townhouses: the long view is still the weak one
The townhouse benchmark was $800,900, up 0.5% in the month and down 9.2% from a year ago. Only Abbotsford, at down 10.1%, fell further over twelve months.
The five year figure is the one that matters for anyone thinking of a townhouse as the safe downsizing step. South Surrey and White Rock townhouses are down 8.0% over five years and 17.6% over three. That is the weakest five year townhouse number of the eight communities the board indexes. Langley townhouses over the same five years are up 6.0%. Active townhouse listings here fell to 261, down 18.9% from a year ago, so supply is thinning even as prices sit lower.
Condos had the best month in the valley
The apartment benchmark was $558,600, up 2.6% from September and down 3.5% from a year ago. That 2.6% monthly gain was the largest of any community's apartment benchmark in October, and the 3.5% annual decline was the mildest. Every other community's apartment benchmark was down more than 8% over the year.
It is also the highest apartment benchmark in the Fraser Valley, ahead of Langley at $522,300, and the only one of the three types here that is up over five years, by 3.6%. That is the strongest five year apartment number in the board's table.
Supply explains part of it. Active apartment listings fell to 295, down 21.3% from a year ago, and new listings were down 18.7%. One month is one month, and a 2.6% move on 46 sales can reverse. But condos here have now held up better than the rest of the valley for some time.
Sales to active ratios by segment
FVREB publishes one ratio for the whole board, 11% in October, and calls a market balanced between 12% and 20%. It does not publish the ratio by area or type, so these are my own arithmetic from the package's counts.
Detached: 54 sales against 559 active listings, 9.7%. Townhouse: 35 against 261, 13.4%. Apartment: 46 against 295, 15.6%. The three together: 135 against 1,115, 12.1%. The board's own three residential types come to 13.4% on the same calculation.
So the combined area is at the very bottom of the balanced band, held there by condos. Detached is still a buyer's market, under 10%. A year ago the three types together worked out to 11.8%, so the balance has barely moved in twelve months.
The ten year numbers
South Surrey and White Rock's composite benchmark is $996,000, up 0.6% in the month. Over ten years the composite is up 3.1%. The board as a whole is up 28.6% and Langley 37.8%. That ten year figure is the lowest of the eight communities in the table. Over three years this area is down 19.4%, tied with North Surrey for the steepest fall.
Detached here is up 12.0% over ten years, the smallest ten year detached gain in the table. Apartments are up 71.8%. The premium end of this market has given back most of what it gained, and the cheaper end kept the most.
If you are selling
Detached buyers are price sensitive and there are plenty of houses to choose from. Across the Fraser Valley a detached home took an average of 50 days to sell in October, a townhouse 37 and a condo 44. Those are board wide, and a house priced off 2022 comparables will take longer. Start with a home valuation, then look at what has closed within a few blocks in the last 60 days. For current price bands, see South Surrey real estate and White Rock real estate.
If you own a condo, this is the best relative position in the valley. That is not a reason to rush, but it is a reason not to price as if the whole market were falling.
If you are buying
There are 1,115 active listings across the three types, and new listings are below last October in every one. Houses leave the most room to negotiate. Condos leave the least. The Bank of Canada raised its policy rate to 2.50% on October 28, 2026, and the next announcement is December 9. Work out what you can carry at today's rate before you shop.
Where these numbers come from
Everything above comes from FVREB's October 2026 statistics package, released November 3, 2026, and the Bank of Canada. FVREB's smallest published geography is the municipality, so there is no published benchmark for Morgan Creek, Grandview Heights, Ocean Park, Crescent Beach or Elgin Chantrell, and this month's update does not split White Rock from South Surrey. For a specific pocket, comparable sales are the honest way to get there. Send me the address and I will pull them. The Langley side of the line is in my Langley update for October.
Sources: Fraser Valley Real Estate Board October 2026 statistics package, released November 3, 2026, including the news release, MLS Summary and MLS Home Price Index tables. Bank of Canada policy interest rate and 2026 announcement schedule, checked November 3, 2026. Sales-to-active ratios are my own arithmetic from the FVREB counts.