Real estate sales climbed significantly in both Houston and Burns Lake for the first three months of this year compared to the same period in 2020.
In Houston 11 single family residential properties sold at an average price of $238,777 and in Burns Lake, there were 10 single family residential sales at an average price of $172,100, according to Multiple Listing Service statistics released through the BC Northern Real Estate Board.
The sales activity was markedly up over the first three months of 2020 when three single family homes sold in Houston at an average price of $232,550 while just one single family house sold in Burns Lake for $80,000.
In Smithers, single family residential sales dipped to 22 for the first three months of this year compared to 23 for the first three months of last year.
But the average selling price in Smithers increased dramatically — from $261,326 for the first three months of last year to $385,068 for the first three months of this year.
The growth in Houston and Burns Lake sales was repeated elsewhere in the north where total MLS unit sales were up 83 per cent in the first quarter of this year compared to the first three months of 2020.
In total numbers, 1,530 MLS sales took place in the first three months of this year.
Real estate analysts attributed the growth to a continuing recovery from last spring, when the COVID-19 pandemic first began to take hold.
That increase was also accompanied by an overall jump of 22 per cent in the price of a single family home to $361,102.
Analysts also attributed price increases to a drop in the number of listings.
“With the supply of listings near record lows and sales at a record high, home prices continue to rise at an accelerated rate,” said Shawna Kinsley, the president of the BC Northern Real Estate Board.
She’s predicting an active real estate year overall, keying on the effect of the LNG Canada project in Kitimat and its associated Coastal GasLink pipeline.
Low levels of supply are also expected to result in continued cost increases with the BC Real Estate Association predicting average prices will rise by 10 to 15 per cent this year.