A relatively unchanging real estate market is in the cards for Prince George, according to a forecast from the B.C. Real Estate Association.
By this time next year, homes will be selling for $242,000 each, according to the BCREA, or about the same as the year-to-date average for this year so far, with sales rising to 860 for the year from 850 predicted for all of 2010.
On the house construction front, the BCREA is calling for starts on 165 single-family homes by the end of this year, up 45 per cent from 133 over 2009, and rising by a further 3.7 per cent to 170 during 2011.
On the multiple-family side, starts on 60 units are expected by the end of this year, followed by 65 starts in 2011, compared to just 32 in 2009.
As of the end of September, there have been 124 starts on single family homes year to date, well up from 73 by the same point last year. On the multiple-family side, there were starts on 44 units to date, compared to 30 by the same point last year.
The holding pattern was explained in terms of gains made in higher commodity prices and investment in the resource and energy sector being offset by a weak U.S. housing market at its effect on the forest industry.
"Despite a rally in lumber prices, housing starts in the U.S. remain at one-third of peak levels," said the BCREA. "While weakness in U.S. new construction activity is expected to continue through 2011, robust U.S. household formation of more than 1.2 million annually will eventually draw down existing U.S. housing inventories and ignite lumber production across the province."
In a separate forecast, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation is more bullish, predicting an average price of $251,000 by next fall and sales of 1,075 homes.
On the construction side, CMHC predicts starts on 165 single-family homes and 60 multiple family units by the end of this year and starts on 155 single-detached homes and 45 multiple family units during 2011.
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