Home sales across the north continued to decline in September.
According to the BC Real Estate Association, 484 homes changed hands in our region last month – that’s a 15% decline from the same time last year.
Chief Economist, Brendon Ogmundson told Vista Radio the record-low supply across the province is causing prices to jump in some of the north’s more rural areas.
“There is no surprise that prices continue to rise especially in places outside of Prince George. We are looking at places like Quesnel, Williams Lake, and Smithers, Prince Rupert even. Those are places where we are seeing really strong price gains.”
Active listings are also down significantly in the north. The region posted 1,627 listings in September – that is a drop of 13.6% on a year-over-year basis after 1,884 listings were found in September of 2020.
However, these comparisons should be taken with a grain of salt according to Ogmundson.
“Past about the summer of this year, anytime we are looking at year-over-year comparisons it’s going to look a little distorted. Last year, we saw an extraordinary recovery in the second half of last year so we are comparing to the highest point of last year essentially.”
Heading into 2022, Ogmundson expects the north to be one of the main drivers of the province’s economic recovery, which should mean great news for the housing sector.
“In the north, there is a lot of economic activity that is going to be driving growth in the province as this includes the pipeline and the LNG activity. The north got a boost to the economy earlier this year when lumber prices were extraordinarily high.”
The average home price in the north is over 397-thousand dollars.
In PG, 91 homes changed hands in September where the average selling price was 447-thousand.