Northwest B.C. is witnessing a dramatic real estate boom in the first half of 2021 as the COVID-19 pandemic-induced recession slowly begins to wane across the province.
While the number of properties sold in 2021 has doubled since 2020, the real estate prices have significantly increased too.
Realtors in the Terrace area sold 200 properties worth $84.2 million in the first six months of 2021, compared to 105 properties worth $34.1 million in the same period last year, according to a report released by BC Northern Real Estate Board (BCNREB) on July 9.
Half of the 112 single family homes that sold fetched less that $450,000. On average it took 60 days to sell those homes. In addition, 16 parcels of vacant land, 9 half-duplexes and 21 homes on acreages changed hands in the first six months of the year. At the end of June there were 231 properties available for purchase in the Terrace area.
The booming real estate trend is also an indicator that the steep pandemic-induced recession of 2020-21 is waning rapidly across the province and B.C. is on a trajectory to reach an economic growth rate of six per cent in 2021 – a 25-year high, based on BCNREB’s report.
Some of the high profile projects from northern B.C. such as the LNG Canada’s terminal and Rio Tinto’s tunnel-boring project near Kitimat are listed as contributors to this growth. Coastal Gaslink Pipeline, Trans Mountain pipeline, Site-C Dam near Fort St. John are other projects that employ thousands of workers and seem to be boosting employment growth and housing demand in northern BC, according to the report.
In the Kitimat area, 121 properties worth $43.8 million have sold in the first six months of 2021, compared to 48 properties worth $15 million at this time in 2020. Similarly in Prince Rupert, 164 properties worth $62.2 million was sold so far this year compared to 89 properties worth $29.9 million in 2020.
The report also shows a trend of “record low inventory,” meaning that not many properties are being listed for sale. This trend of low inventory of available homes, combined with heightened demand is further exacerbating a price growth in northern B.C.
According to British Columbia Real Estate Association’s forecast for the remaining half of 2021, real estate sales will surpass the previous record of 5,564 units sold in 2006. It also estimates home prices to rise by 20 per cent in 2021.
Currently BCNREB has already reported a sale of 3,565 properties with a total value of $1.2 billion sold so far in 2021, in northern B.C.
OTTAWA – The Canadian Real Estate Association says the number of homes sold in August fell compared with a year ago as the market remained largely stuck in a holding pattern despite borrowing costs beginning to come down.
The association says the number of homes sold in August fell 2.1 per cent compared with the same month last year.
On a seasonally adjusted month-over-month basis, national home sales edged up 1.3 per cent from July.
CREA senior economist Shaun Cathcart says that with forecasts of lower interest rates throughout the rest of this year and into 2025, “it makes sense that prospective buyers might continue to hold off for improved affordability, especially since prices are still well behaved in most of the country.”
The national average sale price for August amounted to $649,100, a 0.1 per cent increase compared with a year earlier.
The number of newly listed properties was up 1.1 per cent month-over-month.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2024.
MONTREAL – Two Quebec real estate brokers are facing fines and years-long suspensions for submitting bogus offers on homes to drive up prices during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Christine Girouard has been suspended for 14 years and her business partner, Jonathan Dauphinais-Fortin, has been suspended for nine years after Quebec’s authority of real estate brokerage found they used fake bids to get buyers to raise their offers.
Girouard is a well-known broker who previously starred on a Quebec reality show that follows top real estate agents in the province.
She is facing a fine of $50,000, while Dauphinais-Fortin has been fined $10,000.
The two brokers were suspended in May 2023 after La Presse published an article about their practices.
One buyer ended up paying $40,000 more than his initial offer in 2022 after Girouard and Dauphinais-Fortin concocted a second bid on the house he wanted to buy.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 11, 2024.
MONTREAL – The Quebec Professional Association of Real Estate Brokers says Montreal-area home sales rose 9.3 per cent in August compared with the same month last year, with levels slightly higher than the historical average for this time of year.
The association says home sales in the region totalled 2,991 for the month, up from 2,737 in August 2023.
The median price for all housing types was up year-over-year, led by a six per cent increase for the price of a plex at $763,000 last month.
The median price for a single-family home rose 5.2 per cent to $590,000 and the median price for a condominium rose 4.4 per cent to $407,100.
QPAREB market analysis director Charles Brant says the strength of the Montreal resale market contrasts with declines in many other Canadian cities struggling with higher levels of household debt, lower savings and diminishing purchasing power.
Active listings for August jumped 18 per cent compared with a year earlier to 17,200, while new listings rose 1.7 per cent to 4,840.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 6, 2024.
