Prince George, B.C.- The resale housing market in Prince George appears to be in a chill.

After starting the year off with strong sales, the market started to ease off in to spring with sales over the summer at levels most realtors say are among the lowest they can recall. “Certainly, people’s perception of the impact of the HST may be partly to blame” says realtor Gary Shannon, the past president of the Northern Real Estate Board “but it’s difficult to say just what all the factors may be. Certainly we had a great summer, so that may have played a part, but September did not see the kinds of numbers we are used to seeing.”

Shannon says some seem to think the HST will apply to the sale price of their home, but he says that’s not the case “The HST will kick in on services like home inspection, real estate and legal fees, but we’re only talking about a few hundred dollars overall, so people need to know the impact isn’t that significant.”

Shannon says with interest rates remaining at very attractive levels, and house pricing in Prince George so affordable, it’s hard to pin point why the market tailed off over the past couple of months.

In August, 68 single family homes sold, that’s 12 fewer than in August of last year. The average selling price was down as well coming in at $223,710 a full 3% lower than in August of ’09.

September showed some signs of improvement but Shannon says the market is still not where it “traditionally” is for this time of the year “ We’re starting so see some activity this week, the phones have been busy so hopefully the trends will pick up for the fall market.

Year to date figures show that as of the end of September, 627 single detached homes had sold in this market, and the average selling price was $243 thousand. That compares to 641 homes sold in the first nine months of last year with an average selling price of $232,000.