2025 looking to be good year for local real estate

According to the BC Northern Real Estate Board (BCNREB), 2024 homes sales rose compared to 2023, with 4667 sales compared to 4229. Phillips added the end of 2024 for Prince George saw noticeable improvement too, with 75 sales, a large jump from 2023’s December of 29. Taking all of this into consideration, Phillips believe 2025’s real estate scene will be healthier than years past, where absurd prices and scarce supply dominated headlines.

“There’s really great data showing that it should be a strong year. There’s lots of buyers, our age demographic in BC, we have lots of people in that 65 plus age range, and they’re going to need to make a move (…) there’s going to be real estate available to purchase. And when there’s inventory, there’s going to be buyers that follow that because they say, ‘hey, I could I could own that.’ So we have lots of homeowners who are getting of the age that they want to sell, and we also have a really strong population of that 25 to 35 type individual who’s considering their first home,” Phillips said.

A huge driving force of this is economic trends, as interest has been steadily dropping since Mya of 2024, going from 5% to 3.25% in December. Inflation has also hovered around the 2% mark the last couple of months, which is the Bank of Canada’s target goal. Mortgage Broker Christine Buemann explains this is particularly good news when it comes to mortgages, as it means first time homeowners can afford to pay mortgages that may have previously been unattainable.

“We’ve been in a really uncomfortable window of time where rates have gone up, gone down a little bit, gone up again, and there’s been a lot of uncertainty. What we’re feeling the most right now is hope for affordability, for stability and for what this next chapter of real estate, mortgages, the economy, can look like for us,” Buemann said.

“When they (potential home buyers) see that the numbers can actually work for them: ‘hey, my mortgage payment actually isn’t going to be that much more than rent.’ Or maybe it’s lower, and then I’ll have an asset that’s going to go up in value,” Phillips said.

Beyond the interest rates offering more attractive mortgages, getting inflation relatively back under control will likely have ripple effects into home purchasing.

“We’re also moving towards just general affordability for first time homebuyers, saying ‘if I buy this home, can I still afford it in 3 to 5 years?’ And the answer is becoming more and more often, yes,” Buemann said.

While there are several reasons for optimism, real estate is a volatile business, and Buemann says one potential “wildcard” could have huge impacts not just on real estate, but all of Canada’s economy.

“More than inflation has the ability to change our economy, President Trump will have a bigger influence, and potentially a bigger influence on the geopolitical level. There are some currency potential changes, there are some potential issues in China, and Donald Trump has a lot of control over how other countries will respond. If he imposes these tariffs and if we start to become in these more fragmented relationships with other countries, then for sure that could change things really quickly,” Buemann said.

While definitely worth monitoring, the overall outlook on the year is quite optimistic, and if you’re in a financial position to do so Buemann believes now would be a great time to consider home ownership.

“The best time to do it is yesterday, and gaining that equity, not paying someone else’s mortgage, is most often going to pay off in the long run,” she said.

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by Tommy Osborne

2025 looking to be good year for local real estate

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