Home sales within Northern BC continue at a torrid pace after 363 units changed hands in November.
That’s a 14.5% increase when compared to the same month last year according to the BC Real Estate Association.
Chief Economist, Brendon Ogmudson told Vista Radio Prince George remains the most stable market in the region.
“They are the most steady part of the northern market where we often see some pretty wild swings outside of Prince George where that city is seen as the core and has become pretty steady. We are only seeing about a 6% spike in sales year-over-year with prices only going up 4% as well.”
“A lot of going into what’s going into the strong sales right now continues to be some pent up demand from the spring when the pandemic shut things down but also record low mortgage rates are the bigger driver.”
However, the demand continues to outweigh what is considered a limited supply, with the number of active listings plummeting 27% over the past 12 months.
“We just aren’t seeing the level of listings needed to keep up with all this demand and so, we are seeing prices rise in the north at about a seven percent clip,” added Ogmundson.
As for 2021, Ogmundson believes the north is in for a strong year.
“For the north, we are going to get a real ramp-up of all those major capital projects that had to put their tools down for a big part of this year so I can think we are going to have a strong BC economy with a lot of that led in the north like it was in 2019.”
The average residential price in BC is 816-thousand dollars, which is a new record.
The average house price in the region is 325-thousand dollars, a seven percent increase from the same time last year.
In October, the BC Northern Real Estate Board noted the average price for a single-family home in Prince George is 409-thousand dollars.