The BC Northern Real Estate Board (BCNREB) wrapped up 2018 as the housing sector in Prince George continues to chug along.
According to the year-end report, single-family homes sold for over $350,000 on average last year, an increase of $31,000 from the 2017 mark.
Bob Quinlan with Doucette Realty breaks down what some of the most common purchases are in the market.
“The purchases are going towards the lower prices as well as the price points that fit in with the multi-family apartment strata, the townhouses, the duplexes, and the higher density homes is what’s attracting people because of the price points.”
While the younger crowd is snapping up townhouses, duplexes, and strata-homes to get into the housing market, the older generation seems to be looking at much smaller options.
“We’re also looking at the older generation who are downsizing, they’ve got the bigger housing of three or four bedrooms with three or four bathrooms, what they are doing is unloading those and going into a house which may have one and a half bathrooms that a couple can fit into as the empty-nesters are starting to adjust.”
Total activity within the housing market went down four million in 2018, to just under 322-million last year.
As for what 2019 holds for the local housing market, Quinlan is pretty certain will see a lot more of the same activity from previous years.
“We’re going to see only a marginal number of brand new single-family homes – the large homes that are being built, some of them are being customed and then some of them will be built on speculation by the developers but I still think you’re going to see a trend where you’re going to see people still going towards those lower-priced homes whether it be a starter home or whether it be a home on land or an older home that they are going to work on and fix.”
According to the BCNREB, half of the 264 single family homes located in the southwest part of the city that was sold, went for less than $425,000.