Benchmark home prices in Metro Vancouver have increased 7.5 per cent to $622,955 in October 2011 from $579,349 in October 2010, according to the latest monthly report from the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver.

However, since reaching its peak in June of $630,921, the benchmark price - that of a typical home - for all of the residential properties in the region has declined 1.3 per cent.

The report also said that sales of detached properties in October reached 974, which is about the same as October 2010.

In addition, new listings for all properties totalled 4,374 in October, which is an 18.3-percent increase when it is compared to October 2010, when 3,698 properties were listed for sale, and a 23-per-cent decrease compared to the 5,680 new listings in September 2011.

The total number of properties that are listed for sale now sits at 15,377, which is 9.3 per cent higher than the 14,075 properties that were listed for sale during the same period last year.

Meanwhile, the benchmark price of a single family detached home in the Fraser Valley in October was $530,335, an increase of 4.9 per cent compared to $505,759 in October 2010 and on par with the price in September, according to the Fraser Valley Real Estate Board.