As hearings into the controversial Gateway pipeline open in Kitimat, real estate specualtors are apparently voting with their wallets. Last year, housing sales in the nothern port city more than doubled and the total dollar volume hit $29.8 million, up from $13.8 million a year earlier.
This makes Kitimat the hottest housing market in the north, according to the BC Northern Real Estate Board, which notes that overall sales across northern B.C. increased just 5 per cent last year.
Local real estate agents say many of the Kitimat home buyers, perhaps as much as 40 per cent, are from out of town, including investors from the Lower Mainland of B.C. and Fort McMurray, Alberta.
Kitimat would be the western terminus for the $6.6 billion Gateway pipeline that would run from the Alberta oil sands, if it ever gets approved. Kitimat is also the site of a new $4.2 billion liquidfied natural gas plant, and Alcan Inc. is proceeding with a multi-million dollar expansion of its local smelter.
The average house price in Kitimat is in the $140,000 range, down from $170,000 two years ago.