The BC Real Estate Association isn’t too giddy over what looks to be a decent May for housing numbers in the north.
Our region saw 431 home sales last month, a spike of 5.6 percent when compared to 12-months earlier (408).
However, Economist, Amit Sidhu told Vista Radio a struggling provincial economy and rising mortgage rates are creating a bit of a storm.
“The economy is super weak. I think it is mostly a reflection of some uncertainty that we are seeing with the tariffs, which are disproportionately affecting the north. It impacts some of the cornerstone industries that produce a lot of commodities like softwood lumber that is entangled with the United States.”
“Even though we had a strong job numbers report a couple of weeks ago, we still have a net loss of jobs in the country and I believe in the province. On top of that, the economy has been contracting for the last two quarters.”
“We have been seeing a broad downturn in the northern economy causing some severe headwinds into home sales. Especially looking back at some of the momentum that we lost at the beginning of 2025, which has carried over into to 2026.
The average home price in Northern BC is $466,926, an increase of 4.5 percent from May of 2025.
PG is a little bit higher at $526,000.
Sidhu added Northern BC home sales are down four percent overall on a year-to-date basis.
The average residential price in the province was down 1.4 percent at $945,878 compared to $959,216 in May of 2025.
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