BC Home Sales Forecast to Grow in 2013 BCREA
2012 Fourth Quarter Housing Forecast
Vancouver,
BC – October 26, 2012. The British Columbia Real Estate
Association (BCREA) released its 2012 Fourth Quarter Housing Forecast today.
BC Multiple Listing
Service® (MLS®) residential sales are forecast to decline 9.8 per cent to
69,200 units this year, before increasing 8.3 per cent to 74,920 units in
2013. The fifteen-year average is 79,000 unit sales, while a record 106,300
MLS® residential sales were recorded in 2005.
"Despite
stronger consumer demand in the interior, BC home sales will fall short of
last year’s total,” said Cameron Muir, BCREA Chief Economist. “A moderating
trend in Vancouver has recently been exacerbated by tighter high-ratio
mortgage regulation. The resulting decline in purchasing power has squeezed
some potential buyers out of the market. However, strong full-time employment
growth, persistently low mortgage interest rates and an expanding population
base point to more robust consumer demand in 2013."
"While
the average MLS® residential price is forecast to decline 7.6 per cent to
$518,600 this year, the change is largely the result of luxury home sales
returning to more normal levels after an unusually active 2011,” added Muir.
In addition, the Lower Mainland’s share of provincial home sales is expected
to decline to 57 per cent this year from 62 per cent in 2011.The average MLS®
residential price in BC is forecast to edge up 0.7 per cent to $522,000 in
2013.
To view the
full BCREA Housing Forecast, click here.
|