Prince George, BC – The BC Real Estate Association is credting strong sales in the Interior with holding residential home sales relatively steady last month, compared to May of 2011.

BCREA Chief Economist, Cameron Muir, says, "Despite a nearly 16-percent dip in home sales in Vancouver, provincial total were down just two-percent from levels a year ago."

In Northern BC sales were up 19-percent.  Last month, 465 homes were sold in the region through the Multiple Listing Service for a total sales value of $108.7-million dollars, compared to 390 homes sold for $89-million over the same month last year.

"We’ve had an exceptionally strong spring," says Joni Brown, President of the Northern BC Real Estate Association.  "We’re seeing brisk activity – the inventory is getting picked over and the ‘good stuff’ is going very quickly."

Brown says the first three months of this year were slow, which she attributes, in part, to the cold winter.  "It’s a funny thing, but weather does play a part in the amount of activity we have – when it’s horrible, the phones get quiet, but it picked up as soon as the weather took a turn for the better."

The average price of a home in the Northern BC region has climbed 5-percent – from $227.6-thousand dollars last May, to $228.7-thousand last month.  Brown says, "It’s a healthy market – we’re not seeing dramatic jumps, but we’re seeing steady increases, which is the sign of a balanced market."

She says it is leaning a little more towards sellers right now because inventory is down, but there have not been unsustainable jumps in prices and she’s hopeful the moderate, healthy increases will continue through the year.  Year-to-date sales in the region have climbed 24-percent over 2011, with sales coming in just under $390-million dollars.