House prices stay robust

A few neighbourhoods across B.C. number among Canada's strongest housing markets, according to a new Century 21 survey.

The spring survey released yesterday pinpoints neighbourhoods in Castlegar and Vancouver as having robust year-over-year price increases for typical homes.

Prices in the south, north and rural areas of Castlegar increased 16 per cent, 18 per cent and 18 per cent, respectively, Century 21 said.

In Vancouver, neighbourhoods in the east side, Yaletown, Kitsilano and Marpole, prices rose between five and 19 per cent, the survey said.

Price growth in Abbotsford was strong but variable, the survey said. Prices for similar bi-level homes in the central, western and eastern areas of the city rose two per cent, seven per cent and eight per cent, respectively.

The annual survey looked at typical homes in 198 neighbourhoods in 66 cities across the country. It found prices rose in 167 neighbourhoods, were flat in nine and fell in 21.

Century 21 Canada president Don Lawby said the strength of the Canadian housing market is based on conservative lending practices and regulations, in contrast to boom-bust excesses in the U.S.

In that country, many homeowners took equity out of their homes and spent it on vacations, cars and flat-screen televisions, he said.

"The price collapse in the U.S. housing market, which happened 18 months ago, was based on lending practices and mortgage-interest deductibility tax regulations that lured new buyers into mortgages they couldn't sustain," Lawby said. In Canada, housing sales volumes are easing in most areas as the economic growth rate slows. "But prices in the spring of 2008 were strong and stable nearly everywhere across the country," he added.

Among the 21 neighbourhoods in Canada in which prices fell, one was in Prince George, where softening reflects weakness in the forest industry, Century 21 said.

In Greater Vancouver, other pockets of strength were:

n North Vancouver, where a one-bedroom condo rose 17 per cent from $320,000 to $375,000.

n Richmond, where the price of a two-storey in the Hamilton neighbourhood rose seven per cent from $520,000 to $558,000. A two-storey in Steveston climbed 14 per cent from $604,000 to $729,900.

In Victoria, price jumps ranged from nine per cent for a two-storey in Thetis Vale to five per cent for a split-level in Lakehill.

Century 21 defines " typical home" as the type of home found most frequently in a neighbourhood.

Saskatchewan posted Canada's largest price increases. A three-bedroom bungalow in Regina's Whitmore park neighbourhood rose 57 per cent to $330,000.

(prepared by Paul Luke/Vancouver Province)