Extremely Tight Conditions Persist in the BC Housing Market

The British Columbia Real Estate Association (BCREA) reports that a total of 6,138 residential unit sales were recorded by the Multiple Listing Service® (MLS®) in January 2022, a decrease of 14.7 per cent from January 2021. The average MLS® residential price in BC was $1,042,169, a 23.5 per cent increase from $843,918 recorded in January 2021. Total sales dollar volume was $6.4 billion, a 5.3 per cent increase from the same time last year.

“Sales activity is down compared to record levels at the start of last year,” said BCREA Chief Economist Brendon Ogmundson. “However, the level of sales activity remains strong compared to the long-term average and inventory is still incredibly low. As a result, it will take quite some time to get back to healthy balance in the BC market.”

Total active listings remain near record lows with just 13,000 total listings in the province. For context, a healthy level of re-sale listings for the province is closer to 40,000 listings. As a result of this listings drought, markets all over the province are seeing significant upward pressure on prices.