P.G. Real Estate Market Brisk
Monday, August 19, 2013 @ 3:55 AM
Prince George, B.C. – The real estate market in Prince George is “brisk” says past BC Northern Real Estate Board President Joni Brown.
In July, 145 residential listings had sold in Prince George. That adds to the positive numbers seen throughout the province by the BC Real Estate Association. The Northern Real Estate Board has reported the average price in its region was just over $248 thousand dollars, a 4% increase over the price in July of last year. It also reports a 4.7% increase in sales over the same month in 2012.
The BCREA says there were 7,650 residential sales recorded by the Multiple Listing Service® (MLS®) in BC for July. That’s up 18% from the previous year, and the best July for residential sales in B.C. since 2009.
“After six consecutive months of rising consumer demand, it’s now clear that BC housing markets are recovering from tighter lending regulations introduced last year,” says Cameron Muir, BCREA Chief Economist . But Muir adds says the Northern Real Estate Board has seen steady activity even through the economic crash in 2008 “The Northern Real Estate Board has been ‘steady Eddie’ in the post recession cycle, it has been the most stable in all of B.C. which can be attributed to a diversification in the (Northern) economy and the significant investment being made in natural resource commodities.”
According to Joni Brown, news of increases to the mortgage rates is having little effect on buyers in Prince George. “I don’t hear people telling me they want to buy now because of changes to mortgage rates. The market here ( Prince George) has been brisk all year. We are seeing competing offers on some properties, but not offers that are above the listed price.”
Brown says right now the driving force for real estate purchases is the coming school year, as families try to get settled before the school year starts. “Certainly we have a lot of families who are looking to buy a property so their children who are attending UNBC will have a place to live for the next few years.” She says parents look at this as an investment where they can rent out a part to another student to help cover the costs, and sell the property and recoup money when their son or daughter graduates.
“The market here has been very good this year, it has been very busy” says Brown.
Comments
We know they will get mileage out of the fact last July 2012 we had mortgage rules tightened from 40-year to 25-year mortgages… therefor a big drop in that month to compare to this year.
And I think recent sales are most likely as a result of people borrowing at the rates they can get today while they still can.
Wait till rates go up 1 or 2 percent and then we can see how strong the real estate market really is.
I think a good leading indicator is the average time a house stays listed, but we don’t often see those statistics to back up the narrative.
That is actually a lagging indicator since it is a statistics which happens after the fact.
An example of a leading indicator would be an annual survey asking people whether they will be in the market for a dwelling unit, what kind, when, how much, etc.
“Wait till rates go up 1 or 2 percent”
How long have we been waiting for that? 10 years or so?
Anyone who has a mortgage and has made a choice over a decade ago to take a variable rate has been paying less than anyone else for their mortgage.
A reminder of where we were ….
http://www.canadianmortgagetrends.com/.a/6a00d8341c74cb53ef0191047b0aef970c-pi
Hmmmmmm
http://vancouvercondo.info/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/british-columbia-mortgage-history.gif
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