The BC Northern Real Estate Board reports that inventory is down and sales are up over last year for homes across the board area, which includes the Cariboo, the Northwest, Bulkley-Nechako, Fraser Fort George and the North.
Regional variances are strong, but overall, sales volumes are up by 41 per cent over last year while inventory is down seven per cent. The strongest markets are in the western, central and northern regions, with Prince George, Prince Rupert, Terrace, Smithers, and Fort St. John considered seller’s markets.
Burns Lake and area currently has 136 properties listed for sale through MLS. So far this year, 52 properties worth $6 million dollars have sold. Last year, 48 properties worth $6.2 million had been sold in the same time period.
The average selling price for a residential detached house was $130,797, the lowest of the of MLS reported sales across the northern real estate board. But this is an increase over three years from the average price in 2010 which was $127,706.
The highest value average home sales in Northern B.C. to date have been in Fort St. John, where the average sale price of a home in September was $372,506.
“We’re about average in Burns Lake,” said Dennis Bock, Burns Lake Royal LePage realtor. “It’s not a buyer’s market, and it’s not a seller’s market.”
Bock cautioned that the real estate statistics can be skewed because the MLS report includes homes for sale, or that have sold, in Southside, Topley, and Granisle.
“If a home sells for a low price in Granisle, that will reflect on the overall value of sales in Burns Lake,” he said.
Bock said that homes are moving at both the low and high end of the market range.
Information for Houston, Smithers, and the Vanderhoof area are as follows:
Houston
To the end of September, 39 properties worth $6.6 million sold in the Houston area, compared with 42 properties worth $6.4 million in the same period last year. At the end of September there were 50 properties of all types available for purchase through MLS in the Houston area.
Smithers
As of Sept. 30, 196 properties worth $48.7 million changed hands in the Smithers area, compared with 192 properties worth $47.6 million in the first nine months of 2012. Half of the 93 single family homes sold so far this year, sold for less than $255,000 and these homes took, on average, 73 days to sell. Also changing hands this year were 26 parcels of vacant land, 34 homes on acreage, 15 manufactured homes in parks and 10 manufactured homes on land. As of Sept. 30, there were 232 properties of all types available through the MLS in the Smithers area.
Vanderhoof
Sixty-nine properties worth $14.1 million were sold in the first nine months of the year compared with 99 properties worth $17.8 million in the same time last year. Half of the 32 single family homes sold so far this year, sold for less than $216,000 and these homes took, on average, 93 days to sell. Also changing hands were 14 parcels of vacant land and 14 homes on acreage. At the end of September there were 129 properties of all types available through MLS in the Vanderhoof area.