Single-family home sales in PG slashed by almost half in last three months

With the weather turning a bit cooler, a slight chill has come over the housing market in Prince George.

Over the past three months, there has been a gradual decline in the number of single-family homes being taken off the market.

After 90 of these units came off the market in August, the northern capital recorded 66 sales in September followed by 54 last month according to the BC Northern Real Estate Board.

However, Vice-Chair, Kristine Newell told MyPGNow.com Prince George is coming out of a period where they saw a near-record amount of purchases in 2022 and that the market is starting to balance out.

“What we are seeing is pretty much a return to a balanced market where homes are having a normal amount of time on the market. They are selling pretty close to the listing price but they are not going so far over the listing price and not those crazy price jumps month over month.”

“We would expect those to come down after a year that is kind of hard to compare to because we just haven’t seen anything like it. The price of a single-detached home is down over last year and we can attribute a lot of that to the interest rates as it reduced a lot of people’s purchasing power.”

On a year-to-date basis, 621 single-detached homes have sold for an average price of $503,508, down substantially from the same point in 2022 where 754 units changed hands worth approximately $524,140.

When comparing year-over-year a slightly different picture is being painted.

The average selling price of a single-family home in October was a shade under $495,000 – a slight increase when compared to the same month last year when it was $489,559.

Newell expects a return to normal for the local housing market in the next six months as that is when interest rates are expected to drop.

“I expect that the interest rates will settle out and people will just realize they are not committed to that rate – that is a rate for right now. Those are going to change in the future and we are forecasting probably no more rate increases after spring we are hoping. Everybody should continue to return to that more normal, calm market after two years of insanity.”