Housing values up 84% from 2003
Written by PAUL STRICKLANDCitizen staff
Thursday, 24 April 2008
Prince George weakest performer in real estate survey
The average house price in the Prince George region has increased 84 per cent since 2003, according to a study by the B.C. Northern Real Estate Board.
However, owning a home in the North still consumes a much smaller percentage of household income than Vancouver, according to the fifth annual Housing Affordability Study released Wednesday.
The average price of a home in this city declined from just under $150,000 at the end of 1997 to around $120,000 in 2001 and then soared to just under $250,000 at the end of 2007.
The BCNREB commissioned the affordability study after RBC Financial Group released the results of its cross-Canada housing affordability study. The latter study showed B.C. was the least affordable place to buy a house in the country. However, the BCNREB finds that the costs in northern B.C. are about 31.7 per cent of family income compared to an average of 68.5 per cent for the entire province.
One way to determine the portion of an average income required to purchase a home in different regions is to refer to the housing affordability index. The index estimates the portion of pre-tax median household income needed to cover mortgage costs, municipal taxes and fees and utilities for single-family homes. For 2007 the Housing Affordability Index for northern B.C. was 31.7 per cent compared with 73.8 per cent for Vancouver.
There are considerable variations with the region. The housing affordability index for Kitimat is just 15.4 per cent, while home ownership in 100 Mile House consumes the highest proportion of of median household income, 51.8 per cent, of all the communities in the northern two-thirds of the province served by the BCNREB.
posted by Colin @ 11:07 AM
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