Real estate prices

The value of Real Estate sales in British Colombia reached a record 37.8 billion dollars in 2006, up 7% from 2005, fueled by higher-house prices at a time when the no. of sales dropped. In 2006, British Colombia realtors sold just fewer than 97,000 homes through the “Canadian Real Estate Association’s” marketing network, the Multiple Listing Service, a 9% drop from 2005’s record of 106,000. But an 18% increase in the average price of a house in the province - from 332,137 dollars to 390,760 dollars- pushed the value of the sales to the record.

The “B.C. Real-Estate Association”, which corresponds to the province’s twelve regional real-estate boards, anticipates the no. of sales to continue to slow, dropping to 93,500, or by 3%, in 2007. Prices, yet, are expected to keep heading upward, though at a slower pace. The market is certainly trending toward more balanced conditions, Groundwork the market today are some pretty unyielding fundamentals. Employment growth is strong, we have unemployment near record lows, we have wages in many sectors growing a number of times the rate of inflation, & we have fairly good migration numbers to the province, said by Mr. Cameron Muir in an interview.
At the same point of time, the mortgage rates are predictable to remain flat in 2007. The one thing that is not as positive is home prices. Few home buyers are feeling the squeeze, & as a result we are in a price led affordability squeeze. As a result, few potential home buyers are finding themselves unable to afford to purchase the home they desire. While the slow-down in activity began last July, the no. of sales in the year 2006 was still the 2nd highest on record, behind only a record breaking year 2005.

So there is still a high-number of sales from a historical perspective. It is just we are no longer ramping-up to ever new records of home sales in the province, was said by  Muir.
The most vigorous market in 2006 continued to be “Greater Vancouver”, with 36,579 sales worth 18.6 billion dollars, compared to 42,200 sales worth 18 billion dollars in the year 2005. That is a 13.6 % drop in volume, yet a 3.4% increase in value.
The slowest market was “Powell River”, which had only 29 sales, down 30 % from the 420 sales in the year 2005. The values of those sales were also down, from 70.1 million dollars in the year 2005 to 60 million dollars, a 15% drop.
The maximum increase in activity was in “Northern British Colombia”, which includes Prince Rupert & Prince George. There sales were up 9%, to 5,608 from 5,131, with the value of sales up 31%.