Despite an early slow-go, North expected to lead province in realty sales growth

As the summer months inch closer, Northern BC is expected to lead the surge of home sales.

It’ll be something to look forward to as tt’s been a slow market thus far across the province for real estate.

The British Columbia Real Estate Association is reporting that a total of 5,707 residential unit sales were recorded by the Multiple Listing Service in March, which is a decline of 23 per cent from the same month last year. The average price in the province also declined by 5.4 per cent from March of 2018, with a sale averaging $687,720.

“BC home sales continue to be adversely impacted by federal mortgage policy,” said BCREA Chief Economist Cameron Muir. “The erosion of affordability caused by the B20 stress test has created near recession level housing demand despite the province boasting the lowest unemployment rates in decades.”

However, as Brendon Ogmundson from the BCREA told MyPGNow, much of this is the case in the lower mainland.

“It’s not having nearly the same impact in the north as it is in the rest of the province,” said Ogmundson. “Across the north as a whole, average prices were up by about eight per cent. That’s really a function of a very limited supply in the market. Total sales across the Northern Region were basically flat.”

Ogmundson adds the eight per cent increase doesn’t come from the major market of Prince George, but rather areas such as Kitimat and other communities that are close to prospective LNG activity.

“That’s created a lot of extra demand in those markets, and in those markets, you’ve seen those prices accelerate very quickly,” he said.

In the coming of months, real estate sales are expected to shoot up as usual from year-to-year.

The increase in value for home sales will be a result of LNG activity in the area.