Housing Market Expected to Slow

Tuesday, February 03, 2009 10:00 AM

Vancouver, B.C. - The British Columbia Real Estate Association is forecasting a 9% drop in residential sales on the B.C. Multiple Listing Service for 2009. It's expected that sales will fall from 68,923 units in 2008 to 62,650 units this year.

BCREA Chief Economist Cameron Muir says the global financial situation is having an impact on Canada and British Columbia.

"World events have pulled Canada and BC into a recession, where concern for job security and declining net worth are keeping many potential homebuyers on the sidelines.”

The Association's first quarter forecast for the BC Northern Real Estate Board area predicts an 8% percent drop in unit sales from 4,028 in 2008 to 3,730 this year. Sales are expected to rise 6% in 2010 to a projected total of 3,950.

The average MLS price of a home in the Northern region is expected to drop 8% to 198,000 this year with a further drop of 4% expected in 2010.

Muir says 2010 is is expected to be a year of stabilization in the economy and the housing market with modest GDP growth and employment gains.

Previous Story - Next Story

Email |

Print |

Facebook |

Twitter |

Digg |

Del.icio.us

Posted on Tuesday, February 03, 2009 10:00 AM in News by 250 News

Return to Home

Comments

Posted by: Born in BC on February 3 2009 10:25 AM

Wow the BCREA has finally said what everyone else has known for some time now. They seem to posses an amazing grasp of the obvious and a clear view of the past. Real Estate agents and their constant "the market is going up" is always good for a laugh.

Posted by: beesknees on February 3 2009 10:39 AM

This is really a case of the "rear view mirror being cleaner than the front windshield".

But these organizations can really only release this sort of information once all the statistics have been compiled and tabulated, so they can make the informed comment. Therefore, this seemingly comical information is released now, as most of us already know the problems we're facing with home sales.

I've been aware of this problem for the past couple of years, because I'm old enough to remember the pain of the early '80's, and I just figured all the signs of the past year were indicating that a similar catastrophe was headed our way. I'm not smart, I just have a good memory.

Now if I can only remember where my car keys are, I'm late for a "meeting" over coffee at Tim's :-)

Posted by: Wolfie on February 3 2009 11:44 AM

Remember also that the forecasts by the realtors are ALWAYS best case scenarios (for them). More realistically, take their forecasted price drops and double it.

Posted by: Born in BC on February 3 2009 1:11 PM

"I'm not smart, I just have a good memory."

Dont sell yourself short. Not repeating past mistakes is at least half the battle and not as simple as one might think.

BTW this was just a bubble but the next bull market will last forever! Right?

Posted by: beesknees on February 3 2009 2:54 PM

"BTW this was just a bubble but the next bull market will last forever! Right?"

...oh, my friend, more encouraging words have never been spoken...

:-) :-) :-)

Posted by: NMG on February 3 2009 6:03 PM

How long until we hear a realator start spewing the same ole "There's never been a better time to buy", LOL.

Posted by: polar7018 on February 3 2009 8:06 PM

the B.C.R.E.A. must have been on the moon for the last couple of years.it's unbelievable.

Posted by: RRrabbitt on February 4 2009 7:35 AM

Well this is amazing !!! I thought that RE people only had the client's best interest at heart.... who would have guessed they were in the business for their OWN benefit ?? After all they are a "profession".... aren't they ?

BTW... how does one split the difference between a "forecast" and a "prediction" ??

Is one more defendable than the other ??

Hmmmmmmmmmm. :-)

V.

Posted by: fenceman on February 4 2009 12:40 PM

Stock market and house price "forecasting" is no different then the weather man's "forecasting and prediction"
You can look at the past and guess at the future, and we all now how good the weather man predicts the weather right!!, and he has updated weather photos to look at to see the storms coming and he still has only a best guess.

Posted by: Shellshadow on February 5 2009 8:22 AM

LOLOLOLOL CAN WE SAY DUHHHHHH!!!