Mayor Yu confident in rebound following down year for building permits

Prince George City Council is remaining optimistic following a down year for building permits in Prince George.

In 2023, the City of Prince George issued a total of 395 building permits worth a combined total of $155.6 million.

This followed a record year in 2022 which saw 493 permits worth a combined $251.2 million issued.

“I still remain very positive for this coming year,” said Mayor Simon Yu.

“The interest about Prince George is great, everybody’s looking for real estate development, and this is an important year, the OCP year, and so the picture becomes clear where densification is taking place.

Yu added he’s “confident it’s going to be a great year.”

“It’s always a balance between unemployment, interest, and inflation,” said Councillor Garth Frizzell.

“We can see the hit we took when interest rates went up, it’s a pretty clear indication this year, so hopefully that soft landing is going to play out better for us in 2024 than in 2023.”

“I think the promising part here is the increase slightly from last year from the commercial numbers and the industrial numbers,” said Councillor Trudy Klassen.

“Where business grows, you’ll eventually have more homes built.”