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Housing Forecast for PG Has Positive Notes

Thursday, February 6, 2014 @ 4:13 PM

Prince George, B.C. – There are some positive signs  being painted by Canada Mortgage and Housing for the housing market in Prince George.

A  forecast report, released today,  says the economy  in BC will “gain traction” and  there will be growth in employment and incomes throughout this year.

The  single detached  housing starts in Prince George are predicted to increase from the 126 starts recorded in 2013, to 150  this year,  that’s a 19% increase. The report forecasts a further 6% growth in 2015, with a total of 160 new single  family dwellings being  built.

On the  resale market,  the  report predicts a 1.5% increase in  the number of sales in 2014 to 1,200.  The average selling price is predicted to be about $269 thousand,  or  3.8% higher than  the average price last year.    As for 2015, the report  predicts a further 6.3% growth in the number of  home sales, and  a 4.1% boost in the average selling price  to $280 thousand.

On the rental market,  the vacancy  rate is expected to slip to  3.2% from the 2013 mark of 3.8 and the  average rent for a  2 bedroom unit will  go up from $754 dollars a month to $765.

Comments

Nice to know that we will be gaining traction.

Maybe keep my townhouse I am renting out for a couple more years if this prediction pans out.

The only new housing in PG the last 20-years have been high cost high end housing, the proliferation of which skews the housing cost averages. When is the last time PG had any addition to its young family housing stock?

As for rentals this town is most definitely not family friendly… thus the big decline in our student population across SD57. Any place that accepts kids is often in the low end of the rental market sharing a building with drug dealers and drop outs. If one has a family and opts to rent there are many other cities with far better rental stock available.

PG IMO has some of the worst soviet style rental housing in Western Canada. Its an area that if the city is to ever retain young families for future growth, then it will have to address this issue seriously. A city can not grow if it only caters to the high end, and low end of the market with a big void in the middle market.

This was not a housing article. It is a real estate market report.

So vacancy rates and housing affordability have nothing to do with housing?

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