The Prince George real estate market will buck a province-wide trend and continue to grow this year, the B.C. Real Estate Association (BCREA) is predicting.
According to a forecast issued this week, the typical home in this city will sell for $248,300, a 0.7 per cent increase from 2011, before breaking the $250,000 barrier and reaching $252,400 in 2013, a further 1.7 per cent increase.
Unit sales, meanwhile, will rise by 67 to 890 by year's end and then by a further 35 to 925 in 2013.
Combined, that amounts $220.1 million worth of activity in 2012, rising to $233.5 million next year compared to $202.9 million in 2011.
That's far from a boom but stands in marked contrast to what the BCREA is predicting for the province as a whole this year - a 2.2 decline in unit sales, a 3.9 per cent decrease in the average price to $539,400, and a 5.9 per cent drop in sales volume to $40.5 billion.
The picture is expected to improve in 2013 with a 4.9 per cent increase in unit sales, a 1.4 per cent rise in the average price and a 6.4 per cent jump in sales volume.
The BCREA described the northern region as a whole as a bright spot with unit sales to grow nine per cent, compared to a 2.2 per cent decline for the province as a whole.
"The northern market is being given a welcome boost by strong resource sector investment and a burgeoning recovery in the forestry industry," the forecast states.
For Prince George, the prediction is in line with what B.C. Northern Real Estate Board president Joni Brown is seeing, namely a "mellow upward trend."
"The prices aren't jumping dramatically, but they definitely are improving," she said Thursday.
The BCREA is also predicting homebuilders will overcome a slow start to the year as the weather warms up.
There were just 15 starts during the first quarter of 2012 but that number should be closer to 120 single family homes and 90 multiple family units once the year is through, the same number of single family starts as last year but 30 fewer multi-family starts.
For 2013, the totals are expected to be 145 single family and 100 multi-family.
"There is a lot more optimism out there right now than what there was last year and the previous couple of years," said Prince George Homebuilders Association president Allen Creuzot. "I think our housing starts are going to be going up slowly, not dramatically, not a boom."
Along with the typical family-oriented home, Creuzot said there is a need for seniors-oriented homes as empty nesters downsize.
