The same number of properties were sold in Terrace last year – 239 – as were sold in 2016, show statistics released by the BC Northern Real Estate Board last week.
And the total sales value through the Multiple Listing Service dropped from $67.3 million in 2016 to $65.2 million in 2016.
Half of the single family homes in the Terrace area sold for less than $300,000.
The average selling price of a Terrace area home dropped slightly from 2017 when compared to 2016, from $309,915 in 2016 to $308,531 in 2017.
In addition, 14 parcels of vacant land, 25 homes on acreage, 19 manufactured homes in parks and a further 9 on land sold in 2017.
As of Dec. 31, 2017, there were 196 properties of all types available through the Multiple Listing Service in the Terrace area, up from the 161 properties available on December 31, 2016.
Switching to Kitimat, more properties were sold there in 2017 compared to 2016 but the total dollar value was less.
Sales through the Multiple Listing Service amounted to 98 properties, more than the 91 properties sold the year previous.
Total dollar value was $20.6 million in 2017, down from $23.1 million in 2016.
In addition, four half duplexes and seven townhomes were sold.
The median value of the homes sold in Kitimat was $202,000, meaning half sold for more than that amount and half sold for less than that amount.
The average selling price, however, was higher at $222,602. That’s less than the average $279,385 price in 2016 and also less than the average $298,624 selling price in 2015.
If selling prices dropped from 2017 to 2016, so did the number of properties available for sale.
At year end 2017, there were 78 properties of all types available in the Kitimat area, compared with 112 at December 31st, 2016.
Of the 15 communities in which sales figures were compiled, Fort St. John topped the list at $391,003 for an average selling price.
Across the north, the real estate board reported 4,981 property sales worth $1.3 billion in 2017, up from 2016’s 4,737 sales worth $1.2 billion.
“Most communities in our board region have seen an increase in sales when compared to last year,” said BC Northern Real Estate Board president John Evans.
Regionally, average sales prices have increased one or two per cent over inflation. Overall, most markets have been steady in the face of the weak commodity prices of the last few years and the boom and bust cycles since the 1970s have not been repeating themselves, indicates the real estate board.