Provincially, Housing Sales Decline in September

Thursday, October 16, 2008 03:58 AM

Prince George, B.C.- The BC Real Estate Association’s Chief Economist says the overall real estate picture in B.C. shows lots of homes available and they are more affordable.

Cameron Muir’s report says sales across B.C. were down 34 % last month compared to September of 2007. “Despite relatively strong fundamentals, consumer confidence is low” says Muir.

The B.C. Northern Real Estate Board’s Vice President says now is the time to buy, Gary Shannon says this is a buyer’s market “Sellers are showing great flexibility, this is the time to be buying because the pricing is to your advantage. You don’t get those advantages when the market turns around.”

Shannon says when it comes to listings, real estate agents aren’t seeing the same volumes of new listings, however they are still seeing more listings than sales. “Sales are climbing, and although there are still some who are sceptical about the economy, they have got to see this is the time to buy.”

Economist Muir agrees “Affordability is improving with the carrying cost of the average home in the province now lower than at any time since the end of 2006.”

Year to date MLS residential sales dollar volume in the province declined 24% compared to the same period last year. Provincial MLS sales declined 28% during the same period.

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Posted on Thursday, October 16, 2008 03:58 AM in News by 250 News

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Comments

Posted by: govsux on October 16 2008 8:36 AM

Don't buy the B.S. We still have a few years of pain and turmoil. Let the houses drop another 50-100K

Posted by: RRrabbitt on October 16 2008 3:36 PM

It occurs to me that I have never heard a real estate salesperson ever say when it is a "bad" time to BUY ..... hmmmmm, could it be that their constant, rosy-eyed promotion is actually only self serving... or are they genuine about providing unbiased, useful information about the housing market ???

V.

Posted by: Junco on October 16 2008 3:49 PM

A Realtor says it's a good time to buy!!
Why am I not surprised. For those of you looking to buy...this is a long way from the bottom. For those of you wishing to sell, my sympathies. The peak seems to have been summer of 07 and prices have been in steady decline since then. The market "turnaround" mentioned in the article is pie in the sky at this point in time. IMHO

Posted by: duffer on October 16 2008 4:17 PM

I wouldn't believe anything most realtors say. They are sales people that are in that job to make a living. My daughter and son in law got talked into purchasing a property in the summer of '07 because the realtor (supposedly a friend of my son in law's) told them prices would remain high for at least 5 more years. At the time I tried to talk them into waiting but they listened to the realtor instead of stupid old Dad. What a shame, their property is now down probably 30% - 40% from what they paid.

Posted by: MrPG on October 16 2008 6:46 PM

I don't believe a single thing Gary "Rose-coloured-glasses" Shannon has to say. I wonder if even he believes it.

Many realtors, when spoken to one on one will tell you where housing prices are really going in the next year or two. Nobody can accurately predict what happens after that.

Banks were recently forced to eliminate the 40 year 'zero down' mortgages, which artificially raised real estate values for many years. It's still 35 years maximum, which is way too much.

If banks were forced to make mortgages a maximum of 25 years (which is what it SHOULD be) prices would fall that much more to more realistic values.