Prince George, the self-proclaimed "capital of Northern B.C.," is seeing economic growth nearly twice as strong as the rest of the province, according to a recent report.
Initiatives Prince George (IPG) cited two studies that make a strong case for investing in B.C.'s sixth-largest city outside of the Lower Mainland.
One study looked at overall economic performance while the second looked at real estate rates.
"The Prince George economy performed much better than the provincial economy over the past three years according to a recent report released by the Conference Board of Canada," said IPG communications manager Christina Doll, citing the first of the twin reports.
The conference board's report, entitled Economic History of Canada's Mid-Sized Cities, looked at 46 communities across Canada and, said Doll, "found that over the 2010 to 2012 period, the Prince George economy experienced average annual growth of 4.7 per cent, compared to 2.4 per cent across British Columbia."
The real estate assessments were disclosed in the BC Northern Real Estate Board's 10th annual Housing Affordability Study for the area, which, says executive officer Alexandra Goseltine, revealed how affordable the city is for home buyers.
"As with years prior, the study shows that northern communities continue to be affordable places to buy single detached family homes," she said. "Costs in northern B.C. are about 31.6 per cent of median family income compared to 66.4 per cent for the entire province. Vancouver's total was 82.2 per cent."
The study predicted a slight increase in unit sales for the coming year, going from 4,044 in 2012 to a predicted 4,200 in 2013 and 4,400 in 2014. According to Doll, "A faster-growing economy is credited for the expected strengthening of the housing market."
from Western Investor July 2013
