BC home sales expected to hit eight-year high: BCREA

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VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – The red-hot housing market is forecast to push BC home sales to their highest since 2007.

An industry group predicts residential property sales on the Multiple Listing Service this year will reach 100,000 for only the third time in the province’s history. It would be almost 3,000 fewer than in 2007 and more than 6,000 below the record in 2005.

The BC Real Estate Association says the inventory of homes is at its lowest in nearly eight years, contributing to a seller’s market. It forecasts the province-wide average price of a home will rise 10 per cent this year to $626,000, but only 2.5 per cent next year.

BCREA chief economist Cameron Muir says that’s partly because more lower-priced homes will be in the mix.

“We’re beginning to see a shift towards a greater number of multi-family homes being sold. And they are the lower-priced variety, so that’s going to have an impact on the aggregate average price next year,” he tells us.

Muir says low mortgage rates and a relatively strong provincial economy continue to be factors, but Muir says “consumer confidence is the key driver of the near-record activity.”

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