Real estate sales through the Multiple Listing Service declined in the first nine months of this year in the Houston area compared to the same period in 2022, indicates sales information from the BC Northern Real Estate Board.
To the end of September, 43 properties worth $10.6 million sold compared to 55 properties worth $14.7 million to the of September last year.
And the 2022 figures are less than the 70 properties selling for $14.3 million for the first nine months of 2021.
Within the sales figures, 18 single family residential detached homes sold for an average price of $238,019 from January to the end of September this year, a drop from the 32 residential detached homes that sold for the same period in 2022 at average price of $251,967.
The 2022 residential detached sales figures for 2022 are a slight drop from the 33 homes that sold for the first nine months of 2021. But the average price in 2021 of $250,175 was just under the $251,967 mark for the following year.
At the end of September there were 46 properties of all types for sale through the Multiple Listing Service.
Sales also dropped in the Burns Lake area, from 60 properties worth $16.5 million for the first nine months of 2022 to 41 properties worth $12.1 million from January to the end of September this year.
Of the 2023 sales figures for Burns Lake, 13 were residential detached homes at an average price of $340,657.
That was the same number of residential detached homes selling in the first nine months of 2022 but the average price was much lower at $166,192.
The 2022 and 2023 residential detached sales figures to the end of September were both less than the 26 residential detached sales for the same period in 2021. And the average 2021 price was much lower at $186,650.
There were 70 properties of all kinds for sale through the Multiple Listing Service at the end of September in the Burns Lake area.
Sales figures across northern B.C. as a whole were also down, reported the regional real estate board with 3,354 properties worth $1.4 billion sold through the Multiple Listing Service for the first nine months of this year compared to the 4,210 properties worth $1.7 billion that sold in the first nine months of 2022.
But within the north, individual locations such as Prince George, Prince Rupert, Fort St. John, 100 Mile House and Williams Lake did record an increase in the third quarter of this year compared to the second quarter.
“Overall, the housing market in the BC Northern Real Estate Board area remains soft as high and rising interest rates have constrained affordability for buyers,” the board states.
It expects sales to remain cool in 2024 in face of continued high interest rates and a softening labour market.