Canadian Press file photo

By Emily Keller

housing market

Grande Prairie’s housing market stayed stable in 2019

Feb 28, 2020 | 6:01 AM

Grande Prairie’s real estate market stayed on level last year compared to the year prior.

Lesley Craig, President of the Grande Prairie & Area Association of Realtors, says in 2019, the housing market remained steady.

“We had continued low interest rates, and an average sale price that hovers around the 305,000-dollar range, which makes Grande Prairie a very affordable place to own a home. In general, we are still experiencing a buyer’s market, there have been a few pockets of activity resulting in multiple offers on homes in that affordable range and are in excellent condition.”

The average price of around $305,000 was also up from this time last year by five per cent.

Craig says the federal government’s ‘stress test’, or mortgage qualifying tool, that was introduced in 2017, has negatively affected homes bought in the $400,000 to $600,000 range because it is harder to qualify in that price range.

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She does say that recent changes made to the ‘stress test’ will give about 3.54 per cent more buying power for new buyers.

For the next year, Craig expects the market to remain about the same.

“The economic activity in our area, the job opportunities, our low unemployment rate, in Grande Prairie it’s 1.6 per cent lower than the province as a whole, and low interest rates combined with affordable housing prices will make Grande Prairie a continued safe place to invest your real estate dollars.”