Home sales drop by 15% year-over-year in Northern BC: BCREA

The housing market in Northern BC saw it’s downward trend continue during the month of October according to the BC Real Estate Association.

Chief Economist, Brendon Ogmundson told Vista Radio the region was quite divergent when compared to the rest of the province.

“It’s actually the first time in about a year and a half that the average price actually declined year-over-year, it was essentially flat but it did decline by half a percent and sales were down fifteen percent.”

He adds two major sectors in the north blew their early-season predictions out of the water.

“We were expecting a stronger year across the north but we see a lot of local economic problems, especially in forestry but really in the whole trade sector, in general, have really hampered our expectations.”

However, the BCREA is hopeful the region can come back strong in 2020.

“Some of it is hoped that the global economy gets on a stronger footing and demand bounces back a little bit, especially in the United States. There are some longer-term problems in forestry when it comes to timber supply but a lot of the other stuff is trade-related that hopefully gets ironed out.”

The average house price in the north was over 306-thousand dollars last month, it was about 308-thousand in October of 2018.

Across the province, home sales spiked by 19% last month when compared to the same time last year.

In Prince George, sales were up between one and two percent on a year-over-year basis while prices on single detached homes are up.