Five B.C. housing markets forecast to see the most price growth

Ryan Garner
Livabl

Despite historically low inventory, housing demand remains high in British Columbia and prices are expected to continue climbing, according to the British Columbia Real Estate Association’s (BCREA) 2022 first quarter market forecast.

“Strong sales should persist through the first few months of the year and supply will remain severely limited,” said BCREA chief economist Brendon Ogmundson. “As a result, we expect to see continued upward pressure on home prices in all markets.”

But which market expects to see prices rise the most in 2022? The Kootenay region — anchored by Nelson to the west and Cranbrook to the east — is forecast to see the province’s biggest price growth in 2022, with an average Multiple Listing Service (MLS) price of $508,000, a 12.8 per cent increase from 2021 ($450,466).

“As increasing average prices are directly linked to falling inventory, I don’t see any reduction in the upward pressure on average prices any time soon,” said Bruce Seitz, Kootenay Association of Realtors president. “Sellers will continue to benefit from the high demand for homes in the Kootenay region through 2022.”

Kamloops follows close behind, with a projected increase of 12.6 per cent for an average MLS price of $630,000, while Victoria is forecast to see average prices rise 11.4 per cent to exceed the $1 million mark.

Fuelled by buyers shifting east across the Lower Mainland, Chilliwack saw the province’s fastest price growth during 2021, increasing a whopping 26.2 per cent to $728,146. The BCREA forecasts 10.6 per cent growth this year to $805,000

Vancouver Island rounds out the top five, with anticipated price growth of 9.2 per cent pushing the average MLS price from $664,149 to $725,000.

While demand should remain high in the short term, the housing market is expected to see more balanced conditions this year. The BCREA is forecasting a total of 103,250 transaction during 2022, a 17 per cent decline from last year’s record-setting sales totals.

“Slower sales activity will allow the inventory of resale listings to rebuild, but given how low listings currently are, it will take considerable time before markets can return to a healthy balance,” Ogmundson said. “In fact, active listings in most markets need to more than double to bring markets back into balance.”

© 2020 BuzzBuzzHome Corp.

Calgary housing market heats up as homebuyers from Ontario, B.C. pile in

Stephanie Hughes
other

‘This time, it’s not an oil boom, it’s just people moving here’

 Attached homes for sale in the Livingstone community against the distant Calgary skyline. Photo by Gavin Young/Postmedia files

Tight supply in Calgary’s real estate market pushed the average unadjusted benchmark price to $472,300 in January, a 12 per cent increase over the same time last year, according to data from the Calgary Real Estate Board (CREB).

Housing inventory also reached its lowest point since 2006 at 2,620 units, the organization said, while the 2,009 units sold was nearly double the long term trend.

Realtors based in Calgary told the Financial Post that demand in the market is being driven in part by buyers from Ontario and Vancouver, who have been flocking to the city in search of more affordable homes for their families or as investment properties.

Jared Chamberlain, a realtor and the owner of Chamberlain Group, has been working in Calgary real estate since 2004 and said he’s seen many booms and busts, mostly tied to the energy sector.

“This time, it’s not an oil boom, it’s just people moving here,” Chamberlain told the Financial Post. “I don’t ever recall seeing this quick an increase (in prices).”

This time, it’s not an oil boom, it’s just people moving here

Jared Chamberlain

There are two stories playing out in the Calgary market right now, according to Chamberlain: investors looking to grow their money in real estate at a lower price point, and families or young couples in Toronto and Vancouver who have been priced-out of their cities, but have a down payment ready for a Calgary home.

“It seems like it’s a transfer of money from other places that have had increases to now Calgary,” Chamberlain said.

Inter-provincial migration data backs up his observations insofar as Ontario is concerned. That province has seen an outflow of migrants for most of 2021, while Alberta recently saw a multi-year exodus reverse course. In the third quarter in 2021, 22,013 migrants came to Alberta from other parts of Canada and only 17,524 left, for a net gain of 4,489 people, according to StatsCan data.

The winter months usually see a lull in any housing market, though that hasn’t been the case this year, including in Calgary, the realtors said.

“Even December was an extremely busy month. And of course, it just flew into January full gangbusters,” said Lowell Martens,  an agent at the Calgary RE/MAX office.

A report from RE/MAX released late last year showed that through the end of October 2021, Calgary house prices had risen eight per cent for the year, trailing some of the country’s hottest markets. But sale volumes at the time were 76 per cent ahead of 2020’s pace, the largest increase in Canada.

CREB’s full-year figures for 2021 showed record breaking sales volumes and an overall price increase of more than eight per cent, after a five-year stretch in which prices for the most part declined.

The detached and semi-detached segments hit new all-time highs for prices, but the row and apartment segments lagged their oil-boom peaks.

That newfound momentum faces a challenge from the possibility that the Bank of Canada will hike its overnight rate in the coming months, but Chamberlain said he is not overly concerned.

“I don’t think that’s going to stop these types of buyers and what’s happening right now,” Chamberlain said. “I think the biggest concern is just a lack of supply.”

 

© 2022 Financial Post

Delta industrial land drew 14 bids from buyers

Frank O’Brien
Western Investor

Beedie the buyer of 22-acre parcel on 80th Street, considered the largest industrial deal so far this year

 22-acre Delta site a rare industrial land offering in Metro Vancouver. | CBRE

Beedie the buyer of 22-acre parcel on 80th Street, considered the largest industrial deal so far this year

Local developer Beedie was the buyer after 14 bids were received for a 22-acre vacant industrial site in Delta.

The sale of the assembled property, owned by Delco Container Limited Partnership at 7590, 7664 and 7688 80th Street, is considered the largest industrial deal in Metro Vancouver so far this year and the largest ever for CBRE Vancouver, which brokered the transaction.

The price has not been released.

“I just talked to Beedie and they wish the price to remain confidential,” Steve Brooke, senior vice president at CBRE, who handled the sale with CBRE senior v-p Joel Barnett, told Western Investor. 

The deal closed on February 1, 2022.

The two most recent Delta industrial land sales, both on River Road, sold for an average of $4.2 million per acre, according to data from Avison Young.

Barnett said the 14 sealed offers were received from pension funds, real estate investment trusts, local developers and others.

“Metro Vancouver remains an incredibly challenging market to navigate when you have owner-occupiers, developers and investors all competing for the same space. We’re seeing purchasers become much more aggressive with the terms they propose from unconditional offers to larger security deposits,” Barnett said.

Delta has a record-low vacancy rate of 0.3 per cent and the overall Metro Vancouver industrial vacancy rate is at an historic low of 0.6 per cent, according to CBRE.

“While we have a record high of 9.4 million square feet of industrial space currently under construction, nearly 80 per cent of that is already spoken for,” Brooke added,

Delco will leave the Delta site vacant, and Brooke said he believes Beedie eyes the site for speculative development.

Beedie is keeping its options open.

“It might be. Given the level of demand in the market, I think, touch wood, we’ve got a reasonable probability of securing a build-to-suit and have a tenant that would commit to a large portion of the site, so we wouldn’t do speculative development. I mean, there’s just so many specialized users out there looking for a home, I think I’ve got a really good opportunity to land a build-to-suit for the site,” said Todd Yuen, president of Beedie Industrial Development.

 

© 2022 Western Investor