With just 15 per cent of residential listings selling and prices flatlining, the housing market across most of northern B.C. failed to thaw out this spring.
The B.C. Northern Real Estate Board reports that prices in most communities are at or below 2008 levels. An example is Prince George where the average detached house price is now $247,277, up just $5,000 since 2008 and $1,000 less than in 2010. In Prince Rupert, Terrace, Kitimat and Williams Lake prices are lower now than in 2008.
A sharp exception is Fort Nelson, where average house prices are $325,286, up from $234,800 in 2010 and nearly $100,000 higher than three years ago. Fort Nelson is seeing an upturn due to the shale gas industry.
As of the end of June, there were 5,355 residential properties for sale across the North, the Board reports, up slightly from a year earlier.
from Western Investor August 2011
