The Housing Market In British Columbia

Posted by Guest on Jan 3rd, 2012 in Real Estate | 0 comments

Are you planning to move to British Columbia? If so, then it is prudent that you equip yourself with important information about the BC housing market. By doing so, you will have a clear idea if buying a house in British Columbia would be a sensible move to make. According to a recent news report, the housing market in British Columbia is still considered as the least affordable when compared to other cities in Canada. This is perhaps because of the sky-high prices of homes found in the Vancouver area.

While home affordability in the rest of Canada will continue to be reasonable, British Columbia will remain as an exception. A report issued by the RBC Economics about the 2011 Housing Trends and Affordability suggests that housing affordability for the most part of Canada will remain to be less of a threat to the country’s overall housing demand. But although this may be the case, RBC’s chief economist and senior Vice President, Craig Wright, says that the Vancouver area will be an exception to the reported trend. Prices of homes in upscale neighbourhoods in Vancouver are still sky-high and remain to be unaffordable. Because of this, the Vancouver houses are at risk to the volatile real estate market.

Average price of a house in BC is considered as the highest within Victoria and Vancouver. The estimated monthly shelter cost shouldered by BC homeowners is around $904, which a bit higher than the country’s national average which only falls around $835.  Due to the high cost of BC houses, a lot of people residing in the area are thinking of relocating to cheaper neighboring suburbs like Burnaby, Richmond and Surrey. Living in the said suburbs will help homeowners to cut down their daily and monthly expenses. Moreover, housing costs in these areas are way cheaper when compared to those found in the British Columbia area.

Furthermore, the neighboring suburbs of British Columbia offers more space to accommodate bigger families while also providing easy access to the city. New immigrants will also find a good home in the these areas since there are well-established immigrant communities that have already settled here which can provide them with a strong support network and great cultural community that will make them feel as if they never left their home country.

Those who are thinking of buying a home in British Columbia should seriously think if they will be able to afford it. They can talk to a real estate broker to know the available options for owning a home in the area. Meanwhile, if you think that owning a home in British Columbia is too heavy on the pocket, then look into its neighboring suburbs which offer cheaper and more reasonable house costs.