THE TERRACE real estate market is getting hotter as sales have jumped 34 per cent by September this year compared to last.
“There’s a positive outlook and it looks like terrace is going to keep on going like it always does,” said Royal LePage owner Erika Langer. “We’re getting a lot of people from out of town, buyers are moving into town and their spouses are finding work fairly quickly.”
From January through September 2011, 219 properties sold in the Terrace area worth $41.5 million compared to 164 properties last year worth $30.3 million.
“It’s a significant increase,” said Remax’s John Evans. “We’re doing one third more than we did last year in the same time period.”
“What it tells me is we’re seeing a significant boost in consumer confidence,” said Evans, adding the average single-family home price has also increased, showing stable market conditions through little fluctuation.
That price is $218,000 which is up from $202,000 last year and $197,000 by this time in 2009.
“It’s a seven per cent price increase in our market from last year,” said Evans, “and that’s the majority of our market.”
Of 470 listings this year, 125 single family homes sold, 17 parcels of vacant land, 13 townhomes, 19 homes on an acreage, 16 manufactured homes in parks and 13 manufactured homes on land sold.
But despite an increase in activity this year, Evans said it’s still a buyers market in Terrace.
“That’s the beauty of our market if you’re a buyer, there’s a significant amount of inventory,” he said, explaining that even though more people are buying, price won’t jump a lot until inventory numbers go down.
Pricing, selection and interest rates are factors that determine a buyer’s or seller’s market, Evans continued.
“Even though we’ve seen an increase in activity it’s still very much a buyers market because of low interest rates and a good selection of inventory and still very reasonable pricing,” said Evans, noting that Terrace is one of the most affordable places in B.C. to buy.
Evans cautioned first time home buyers not to be deterred by an improving real estate market.
“Sometimes in an improving market it deters a lot of first time home buyers; they think they missed it,” he said. “I don’ think that’s the case.”
But Evans said the market will continue to rise.
“If I had to venture a guess it would be that we will continue to see an increase in activity, a decrease in our inventory and this will translate to an increase in price,” he said.
But Evans cautioned afterwards, when it comes to the real estate market, nothing is for certain.
“It’s always hard to get a read of when that’s going to happen,” he said. “No one has a real estate crystal ball that’s going to give them the absolute facts.”