Housing Market to Remain Strong
The province’s growing economy will make B.C.’s housing market in 2005 one of the strongest in Canada, according to a national house price survey released by Century 21 Canada.
The survey indicates B.C. will continue to be at the forefront of Canada’s longest and most consistent residential housing bull markets in the past 30 years.
Don Lawby, president and CEO of Century 21 Canada, said while B.C. lagged behind Alberta and Ontario when the long-term national bull market began in 1999, it is quickly making up ground.
“I’ve never seen a market this strong, for this long, in so many markets across the country as I’ve seen in the last five years,” said Lawby, who has been involved in the housing market for the past 30 years.
He said he also doesn’t see any slowdown in the near future.
The survey found that the highest price increases of typical homes in B.C. from 1999 to the year ending 2004 were in Vernon at 49 per cent, Richmond at 53 per cent and Abbotsford at 48 per cent.
“Interest rates continue to drive people to the market,” said Lawby. “More and more people can demonstrate to lenders that their jobs are stable and that they can qualify for mortgage payments - and so the number of buyers continues to increase,”
He said the provincial economy has benefited from improvements in tourism and a booming housing market in the U.S., which increased exports for wood.
Lawby said prices are expected to increase across the country, however, how much depends strictly on the region. He said economists are forecasting a slightly slower pace in new home construction, thus driving people into the real-estate market.