Tuesday, April 16, 2019

BCNREB first quarter numbers indicate Kitimat, Terrace remain NW hot spots


Things appear to have cooled slightly during the cold weather months when it comes to Real Estate sales in the Northwest, with only Smithers showing an increase for the first three months of the year.

The BC Northern Real Estate Board released their latest results this week, providing for a snap shot of the state of the industry across the Northern region for the first three months of 2019.

For the Northwest the story for the first quarter has been a decrease in sales and some reduction of inventory for the most part, with only Prince Rupert finding a decline in the selling price from one year ago.

In the West, Prince Rupert’s sales, listings, and active listings decreased. 

While in Terrace, the number of sales dropped by 3 residences and the number of listings increased from the same period in 2018. 

In Kitimat, the number of sales also decreased., but the market remains quite active as there was an increase in number of active listings. 

Smithers had a slight uptick in sales and a decrease in number of active listings.

BCNREB President Leah Mayer noted that the first quarter numbers may have been affected in part by weather conditions, with the expectation being that things will improve as we move further into the Spring and Summer seasons.

“Overall, many markets in the Board region saw a slight decrease in sales. Many communities had an increase in number of listings. The number of active listings when compared to 2018, decreased by 13 listings. Some markets also saw low inventories. Many markets may see an increase in sales activity with the weather conditions improving after the winter months.”

The review of communities across the Northwest looks as follows:

For Prince Rupert  34 properties worth $8.8 million have been reported sold through MLS in Prince Rupert so far this year, compared to 48 properties worth $13 million from the end of March of 2018.

Of the 34 properties, 22 were single family residential properties and 2 were parcels of vacant land

The median price of the 22 single family homes that sold was $278,040

As of  March 31st there were 169 properties of all types available for purchase through the MLS option in the area. By comparison at this time last year there were 185 available for sale.




The Terrace region while cooling slightly, remained strong overall in the Northwest, with 53 properties worth $16.9 million sold in the first three months of 2018, compared to 56 properties worth $14.5 million in the same period last year.

26 single family homes, 3 manufactured homes in parks and 1 manufactured home on land change hands since January 1st. 

At the end of March, there were 192 properties of all types available for purchase through MLS in the Terrace area. One year ago, there had been 200 properties available for sale in the first three months.

The Average selling price in Terrace in the last three months was $376,626

Kitimat has seen things settle a bit from last years burst of sales. In the first three months of 2019,  19 properties worth $6.7 million had been sold through MLS to the end of March, compared to  32 properties worth $7.5 million at this time last year.

Of the 19 properties, 12 were single family homes, 3 were half duplexes and 1 was a townhouse.

At the end of March, there were 124 properties of all types available for purchase in the Kitimat area. That is double the amount that had been listed in the same period one year ago.

The average price of a home sold in the first three months was 358,950

Heading east, Smithers continued to see an increased pace from 2018, with 44 sales reported with a value of 12.6 million dollars to March 31st. a slight dip in values from the year before when 42 sales brought in13.6 million dollars.

The first three months have seen 19 single family homes sold, while 6 parcels of vacant land, 11 homes on acreage and 3 manufactured homes in parks exchanged hands

As of the end of March, there were 120 properties of all types available in the the Smithers area through MLS. That is down from the 144  listed one year ago in the same quarter.

The average selling price for the first three months was $274,389


A snapshot of the Average Selling prices across Northern BC to September of this year looks as follows:

Selling prices for real estate across Northern BC
from the BC Northern Real Estate Board
(click to enlarge)



The full review of the entire Northern region, including an expansive overview of the largest city in the north in Prince George can be found here.

For items related to the real estate sector on the North Coast see our archive page here.

As well, a look at our weekly real estate listings is delivered to the blog every Monday morning, when we offer up our Real Estate Tracker reviewing the ten listings asking the highest amounts from the city's three main realtors.

To return to the most recent blog posting of the day, click here.

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