Home sales across the north continued to cool in March according to the BC Real Estate Association.
410 units were sold last month, a year-over-year decline of 23% when compared to March of 2021.
Chief Economist, Brendon Ogmundson told Vista Radio we shouldn’t notice a huge difference in sales until later this year once the rate hike from the Bank of Canada takes hold.
“I would expect we are going to see some upward pressure on prices over the next three months. I think sales are going to be pretty strong but as we head into summer that third quarter is when we expect things to settle down a little bit.”
Last week, the central bank increased its rate by half a percentage point to 1%, the first time since 2000 it has spiked by over 25 basis points.
“That is part of the balancing out of the housing market that we are really hoping to see in the next six to twelve months. As demand slows and sales activity slows, that alone will increase inventory and as things take longer to sell, hopefully, it will encourage people to put their houses on the market,” added Ogmundson.
He added housing supply remains air-tight.
“We are cautiously hopeful that the supply side is starting to get better but we are coming off an all-time low in terms of listings so that process is still probably going to take a year to a year and a half.”
There were 1,073 active listings in the north in March, a drop of 21% (1351 listings) when compared to the same time last year.
The average house price in the north is over 434-thousand dollars.
In BC, the average residential price is $1.096 million dollars, a spike of 16% when compared to March of 2021.
Earlier this month, the BC Northern Real Estate Board issued its first-quarter report, with the story link here.