Prince George, B.C.- The picture is bright when it comes to real estate sales in Prince George.   Speaking on the Meisner program on CFISFM, the President of the B.C. Northern Real Estate Board, Gary Shannon, says the market has picked up.  “Normally when we head into December, things really start to slow down, but I can see that we’re going to have a fairly strong first half of December. I’m very hopeful and optimistic that our spring is going to come out of the gates strong as well."

Shannon says   in the last two months in Prince George, 125  homes have sold compared to 108  sales in the same two months  of 2008. Housing prices in Prince George  have increased with  the  average price now  $242,000, up from $216,000 and it is taking about 56 days  for a  home to sell.

Shannon says  that same $242 thousand dollar home in Prince George  would be worth a million dollars in Vancouver, and  between  $700  and $800 thousand in Langley.    Housing is still very affordable in Prince George where a  family is  typically spending  31% of it's income on housing. That is less than    half  of  the  burden being  carried by Vancouver families which  typically spend  72% of their income  on  housing.

Shannon says   the real estate market is all about supply and demand. Following the crash   in the fall of 2008, the demand just wasn’t there. Things have changed as the demand has slowly returned absorbing the supply.  “We don’t have that much on the market,  there’s not a lot of listings out there. There are still people who are in a position to buy or sell at any given time so I think our market is going to remain   fairly active and strong.”

That’s not to say there will be huge gains, but Shannon is optimistic the real estate market is improving “I think we will see some modest increases throughout 2010.”