Strong First Quarter for BC Housing Markets, But Rising Rates Loom Large

The British Columbia Real Estate Association (BCREA) reports that a total of 11,463 residential unit sales were recorded by the Multiple Listing Service® (MLS®) in March 2022, a decrease of 24.1 per cent from a record March 2021. The average MLS® residential price in BC was $1.096 million, a 15.7 per cent increase from $946,813 recorded in March 2021. Total sales dollar volume was $12.6 billion, a 12.1 per cent decline from the same time last year.

“Home sales in the province continue to moderate from record highs of this time last year,” said BCREA Chief Economist Brendon Ogmundson. “Given the sharp rise in Canadian mortgage rates and expected tightening from the Bank of Canada, activity will likely slow further in the second half of this year.”

Provincial active listings were 12.4 per cent lower than this time last year with the total inventory of homes for sale in the province at under 20,000 units. That level of inventory remains well below the roughly 40,000 listings needed for a balanced market.

Year-to-date, BC residential sales dollar volume was down 4.1 per cent to $28.8 billion, compared with the same period in 2021. Residential unit sales were down 20.1 per cent to 26,577 units, while the average MLS® residential price was up 20 per cent to $1.086 million.