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By Liam Verster
Housing Market

Grande Prairie housing market finished strong in 2020, but still a buyer’s market

Jan 19, 2021 | 1:24 PM

The Grande Prairie housing market finished the year strong, despite the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent economic downturn.

The housing market struggled in what would usually be it’s busy season, as people lost their jobs and the economy struggled in the spring.

However, the market rebounded, and Chris Cline, President of the Grande Prairie and Area Association of Realtors, says in the final months of 2020 it finished strong.

“We were actually up a bit from 2019, there were 68 sales in the City in the month of December, compared to 53 in [December] 2019,” says Cline.

He adds those sales, along with 69 made in November 2020, helped bring the final single-family home sales for 2020 up to 972, shy of the 1,097 sold in 2019.

The average sales price for December 2020 was recorded at $327,000, which was much lower than 2019’s average of $340,000.

Cline says the monthly averages were up and down through the year, but it ended with an annual average that was pretty comparable.

“Average [annual] sales price in 2019 was $337,000, but in 2020 it’s $328,000… So prices are down a little bit, but nothing catastrophic by any means.”

The housing market stock also reached very high levels throughout the year, but in the final months that number started to dwindle, and by the end of 2020 there were around 320 single-family homes and duplexes on the market.

Cline adds this year has been easier for people to get into the market, as interest rates are the lowest he’s seen in his 14 years as a realtor.

“Some [rates] are available right now for 0.99 per cent. I’ve never seen that, ever, since I’ve been doing this. That’s the lowest one, but that’s still unheard of.”

Cline says the prices, housing stock, and interest rates are all playing into making it a buyer’s market.

So far in 2021, there have been 20 houses sold in Grande Prairie, which Cline says is on average with figures from the first few weeks of January in previous years.

by Liam Verster