BC Northern Real Estate Board

The number of homes sold through the MLS® System of the BC Northern Real Estate Board totaled 484 units in September 2021. This was a substantial decrease of 14.8% from the record September in 2020 but still posted one of the best levels for this month in history.

Home sales were 9.3% above the five-year average and 17.5% above the 10-year average for the month of September.

On a year-to-date basis, home sales totaled 4,347 units over the first nine months of the year. This was a jump of 38% from the same period in 2020.

"Sales are still recording year-over-year declines from last year’s astronomical records, but the bigger story here is that September 2021 managed to come in at one of the best levels for this month in history," said Sandra Hinchliffe, President of the BC Northern Real Estate Board. "Most of the strength in sales activity is attributed to the very supportive levels of new supply that we are still seeing, compared to other markets where new listings have fallen off and there just isn’t enough supply to prop up sales. That said, even with new supply as supportive as it is we are still facing a continuous decline in overall inventories as demand remains very strong for properties in the region."

The average price of homes sold in September 2021 was $397,136, increasing by 14.2% from September 2020.

The more comprehensive year-to-date average price was $380,767, a gain of 14.3% from the first nine months of 2020.

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 September 2021 was $192.2 million, down modestly by 2.7% from the same month in 2020.

The number of new listings saw a decrease of 4.7% from September 2020. There were 532 new residential listings in September 2021.

New listings were 1.4% above the five-year average and 3.8% below the 10-year average for the month of September.

Active residential listings numbered 1,629 units on the market at the end of September, a large decline of 16.2% from the end of September 2020. Active listings haven't been this low in the month of September in three decades.

Active listings were 26.1% below the five-year average and 36.8% below the 10-year average for the month of September.

Months of inventory numbered 3.4 at the end of September 2021, unchanged from the 3.4 months recorded at the end of September 2020 and below the long-run average of 6.5 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.