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HomeNewsBC home sales predicted to decline in 2017 amid high demand

BC home sales predicted to decline in 2017 amid high demand

The BC Real Estate Association (BCREA) are forecasting a 10% decline in home sales this year.

The Association predicts that  101,000 homes will be sold in the province this year compared to a record-breaking 112,209 in 2016.

Despite the decline, the housing sector is still in good shape.

“We are still seeing very robust levels of demand all across the province and that’s mostly owing to the fact the economy has been so strong for the past four years. This is really the strongest growth we’ve seen since about the 2003 to 2007 period,” says Brendon Ogmundson, an economist with the BCREA. “Employment has been very strong, interest rates are still low and there is a lot of really demographic kind of support as well with millennials aging into the typical home buying age range so we’re seeing a lot supporting demand and that’s why we’re expecting to see about 100,000 sales this year and next year.”

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Northern BC continues to be an interesting market according to Ogmundson.

“It’s been what we would call a bifurcated market with Prince George sitting in the middle of the markets of the north where about half of them are more guided on what happens with commodity prices and natural resource exploration activity and then there is another half that is more diverse economically. After oil prices fell in 2014,  a lot of markets like Terrace and Kitimat have really struggled where places like Quesnel, Prince George, and Williams Lake all did a little better.”

The ten year average for residential sales in BC is 84,700 units per year.

The average home price in the province is expected to drop 1.1% to $683,500 this year but the BCREA is predicting a 5.2% increase to $719,100 in 2018.

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