The number of homes sold through the MLS® System of the BC Northern Real Estate Board totaled 292 units in April 2023. This was a sharp decrease of 29.5% from April 2022.
Home sales were 16.7% below the five-year average and 21.3% below the 10-year average for the month of April.
On a year-to-date basis, home sales totaled 915 units over the first four months of the year. This was down sharply by 36.7% from the same period in 2022.
“Home sales were still running below their long-term averages in April but looking at the monthly trend we also saw a strong uptick from March to April,” said Breanne Cote, Chair of the BC Northern Real Estate Board. “Obviously one month alone does not make a trend, although the fact that other markets are also seeing this bounce is reassuring. New listings are still absent from the market, which means we’ll likely see stronger sales before we see stronger new supply. In the meantime, there’s going to be a tightening of the market and renewed upward pressure on prices until sellers decide they are comfortable enough to return in meaningful numbers.”
The average price of homes sold in April 2023 was $403,733, a decrease of 9.2% from April 2022.
The more comprehensive year-to-date average price was $385,805, a moderate decrease of 7.4% from the first four months of 2022.
The Board cautions that the average residential price is a useful figure only for establishing trends and comparisons over a period of time. It does not indicate an actual price for a home due to the wide selection of housing available over a vast geographic area (the Board serves an area covering over 600,000 square kilometers or 72% of the province).
The dollar value of all home sales in April 2023 was $117.9 million, a substantial reduction of 36% from the same month in 2022.
The number of new listings saw a sharp decrease of 22.4% from April 2022. There were 558 new residential listings in April 2023.
New listings were 14.3% below the five-year average and 23.4% below the 10-year average for the month of April.
Active residential listings numbered 1,631 units on the market at the end of April, up by 20.8% from the end of April 2022.
Active listings were 6.1% below the five-year average and 24.2% below the 10-year average for the month of April.
Months of inventory numbered 5.6 at the end of April 2023, up from the 3.3 months recorded at the end of April 2022 and below the long-run average of 6.3 months for this time of year. The number of months of inventory is the number of months it would take to sell current inventories at the current rate of sales activity.
The BC Northern Real Estate Board is an association of over 410 REALTORS® that provides services to and sets standards for members.
The BC Northern Real Estate Board covers the northern part of British Columbia, including Bulkley Nechako, Cariboo, Fraser Fort George, Peace River/Fort Nelson, and Skeena/North Coast.
