Home sales and prices in Prince George have seen a 15% year-over-year increase when compared to January and February of 2020.
That’s according to Bob Quinlan with RE/MAX Core Realty.
Quinlan told MyPGNow.com buyers have zeroed in on a few must-have items when looking to purchase their next home.
“It seems that the reports all around the province that people are looking to work from home, looking for more space, and they have the ability with the lower interest rates to be able to purchase a single-family dwelling with covered parking and a private yard.”
However, there doesn’t seem to be as much demand for condos or strata-houses.
“There still is that move towards it but not as much. That seems to be focused on first-time buyers and the empty nesters that are downsizing from those single-family homes.”
Even with more listings currently in Prince George, Quinlan was quick to point out it’s still a seller’s market.
“There are a lot of listings on the market right now compared to the same time last year but we have a higher demand with less supply. It is a seller’s market and we also do notice over the last number of years when we’ve colder weather that activity goes down but once it warms up then all of a sudden we see more coming out.”
According to the BC Northern Real Estate Board (BCNREB), the average price of homes sold in January was a shade under $340,000, an increase of 12.6% when taking a look at the same month in 2020.
Despite the price hike, Quinlan believes PG is still the place to be when shopping for a decent-priced home.
“A first-time buyer who can get into a home from 350 to 450 thousand with just five percent down and two people having a decent income can qualify for a mortgage for that. The availability to purchase a home here compared to the Lower Mainland where you have something that is one million or 1.2 million where they can cover a three or four hundred thousand dollars mortgage but they are going to need a seven or eight hundred thousand dollar down payment to get into that.”
“We do see the banks getting a lot tighter, so five percent down, first-time homebuyers are being grilled a lot more to make sure they have the ability to get into a property. The other factor that is affecting the market too is manufactured homes, which were a source for first-time buyers and they could get a 25-year mortgage on these. Right now, the difficulty with those are the economic life of an ultra-manufactured home as well as now the insurability. The banks want replacement cost insurance and the insurance providers are just not able to do that for these types of homes.”
Last October, the BCNREB reported the average house price in PG was $409,000, an increase of nearly 40-grand when compared to September of 2019.