No End In Sight For Strong Real Estate Market

By 250 News

The future looks bright for the real estate market...

Ted Shephard, President of the B.C. Northern Real Estate Board, says, "Without exception, over the course of 2005 to present, we've seen strong sales, an increase in average selling price and a little less time on the market than in the past."

"With the job creation we're having in our board area, I don't see any end in sight to this healthy real estate market," says Shephard, "In the near future, we're going to continue to increase and there's nothing to indicate that will change to the negative."

Fort St. John continues to be a hot spot in the region.

And, while the upswing in the Prince George market has not been as dramatic, Shepherd says there's been a steady improvement over the last several years.

He says Prince Rupert saw a spike in interest when funding for the container terminal was announced last year.  "We saw an immediate result within hours of the announcement -- in some cases, within minutes -- we started getting phone calls from investors and we had an extremely busy spring last year, people were buying up everything we had listed."  

Shephard, a real estate agent in Prince Rupert, says it was pretty exciting, but says the market has since levelled off somewhat, although is still steadily improving.

He credits the strong oil and gas industries, pine beetle harvesting, mining exploration and tourism as factors in the strong market.  And says affordability, along with a high quality of living, continue to draw buyers into the market.

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