Home prices in Metro Vancouver headed in the same direction as the stock markets in November: down.

Real estate prices lurched down another four to five per cent last month, according to the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver.

The benchmark prices of a single detached house is now down 13.6 per cent since May to $666,500.

In the Fraser Valley, real estate is off six to seven per cent since May.

Detached houses in the Fraser Valley area were the one property type where median selling prices actually rose – 3.4 per cent – in November.

"The local real estate market is not immune to the current economic challenges globally," said Dave Watt, president of the Greater Vancouver board.

The more expensive suburbs in the region is where prices have plunged most.

Condos in West Vancouver and White Rock are now both down 20 per cent from a year ago, while the median house in White Rock is off 25 per cent.

Detached houses and attached duplexes or townhouses on Vancouver's west side are down about 19 per cent from the same time in 2007.

Condos and houses in North Vancouver are also down 12 to 14 per cent.

People willing to buy are scarce.

Sales were down 70 per cent in Metro Vancouver from a year earlier and Fraser Valley Real Estate Board sales were down 62 per cent.

Watt said more disciplined mortgage lending here has kept Canadian housing prices much more stable than in the U.S.

"Times of turmoil, from which we always emerge, offer excellent opportunities to buy quality real estate," he said.

Fraser Valley board president Kelvin Neufeld also characterizes the market as a buying opportunity – especially for people in the market looking to trade up to a bigger home that has fallen more sharply in price than their current home.

He said falling prices are due to falling consumer confidence over the global economy, coupled my a normal seasonal slowdown in real estate at this time of year.

The Greater Vancouver Real Estate Board covers all of Metro Vancouver except Surrey, White Rock and North Delta, which are in the Fraser Valley zone.

SELLING PRICES BY REGION

GREATER VANCOUVER

Detached houses – $666,525

- 4.3 % one month / - 8.6 % one year

Attached – $426,287

- 4.9 % one month / - 6.4 % one year

Condos – $342,315

- 4.5 % one month / - 8.6 % one year

FRASER VALLEY

Detached houses – $480,000

+ 3.4 % one month / + 0.1 one year

Attached – $312,000

- 0.2 % one month / - 4.0 % one year

Condos – $200,000

- 4.8 % one month / - 4.8 % one year

(Benchmark or median selling prices for October)