More than 5,100 property sales worth $1.5 billion occurred in Northern BC.
That’s up from the 4981 sales worth $1.3 billion in 2017 according to the BC Northern Real Estate Board.
President Court Smith says overall it was a pretty strong year.
“There were a few of the markets in our region that saw a bit of a decrease but overall there was a decent increase which just shows the strength of where we live,” Smith said.
“The report is somewhat self-explanatory. Williams Lake had a slight increase in sales from 469 in the previous year to 495 this year but the interesting thing is, in fact, there was no increase in the listing activities so that puts a little pressure on prices so there was a little bit of an increase in average sale price.”
Quesnel Remax sales representative William Lacy says it has been a very fast market for Quesnel over the last two years.
“The previous years leading up we’ve had ten percent plus increases in sales every year and that was in 2015 and 2016,” Lacy said.
“Now we’re just kind of stuck in a seller’s market where there’s not much supply. There’s a lot of Vancouver migration coming here to Quesnel and it’s a tougher market here for buyers.”
Lacy estimates that 50% of the people he sells homes to are coming up from Vancouver as they can’t afford a home there.
Looking to 2019, Smith says there are few things of concern.
“Certainly locally,” Smith said.
“Mount Polley’s announcement hopefully that does not come to fruition but if it does that could have some impact. The one thing that we do have in the Interior and really in Northern BC is affordability. When you look throughout the province this area is affordability in comparison and that is what I think has helped drive our markets from 100 Mile House in the South right through to the North.”
100 Mile House: 538 properties worth $134.4 million sold compared with 550 properties worth $126.9 million in 2017. The 150 single-family homes that sold in 2018 had a median value (half sold for less) of $285,000. In addition, 162 parcels of vacant land, 120 homes on acreage, 42 manufactured homes on land, 14 manufactured homes in Parks, and 26 recreational properties changed hands in 2018. At the end of December, there were 283 properties of all types available for sale through MLS® in the 100 Mile House area, down from the 292 properties at the end of 2017.
Williams Lake: 495 sales worth $118.4 million were reported in 2018, up from 469 sales worth $110.5 million the previous year. Half of the 167 single-family homes sold in 2018 sold for less than $275,000. 61 parcels of vacant land, 108 homes on acreage, 20 townhouses, 48 manufactured homes in Parks and 40 manufactured homes on land were also sold in 2018. At the end of December, there were 225 properties of all types available through MLS® in the Williams Lake area, which is one less than the 226 properties at the same time last year.
Quesnel: 349 properties changed hands in 2018, up slightly from 345 that were sold in 2017. The value of these properties was $78 million ($68.7 million in 2017). The median value of the 146 single-family homes sold in 2017 was $232,500. In addition, 36 parcels of vacant land, 84 homes on acreage, 24 manufactured homes in Parks and a further 33 on land were reported sold in 2018. At year-end, there were 124 properties of all types available for purchase through MLS® in the Quesnel area, up from 110 properties at the end of 2017.