BC Northern Real Estate Board

The number of homes sold through the MLS® System of the BC Northern Real Estate Board totaled 428 units in August 2023. This was up by 7.8% from August 2022.

Home sales were 5.5% below the five-year average and 1.3% below the 10-year average for the month of August.

On a year-to-date basis, home sales totaled 2,560 units over the first eight months of the year. This was a substantial decrease of 20.2% from the same period in 2022.

“Looking through the seasonality of the monthly data, August posted the sixth consecutive month-over-month gain and marked the continuation of the rebound in sales activity in our region,” said Breanne Cote, Chair of the BC Northern Real Estate Board. “New listings have been trending around average levels, which is still very supportive given the lack of seller enthusiasm other regions are currently experiencing. Nevertheless, demand is outpacing the rate of supply and has pushed us to the brink of a seller’s market, with average prices in August reaching their third highest level on record.”

The average price of homes sold in August 2023 was $436,786, a moderate gain of 4.3% from August 2022.

The more comprehensive year-to-date average price was $414,235, decreasing by 1.1% from the first eight 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 August 2023 was $186.9 million, a gain of 12.5% from the same month in 2022.

The number of new listings was down modestly by 2.4% (15 listings) from August 2022. There were 620 new residential listings in August 2023.

New listings were 2.9% below the five-year average and 4.8% below the 10-year average for the month of August.

Active residential listings numbered 2,192 units on the market at the end of August, an increase of 8% from the end of August 2022.

Active listings were 0.5% above the five-year average and 14.4% below the 10-year average for the month of August.

Months of inventory numbered 5.1 at the end of August 2023, unchanged from the 5.1 months recorded at the end of August 2022 and below the long-run average of 6 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.