British Columbia is tipping into a recession that will see average house prices fall by 13 per cent in 2009, rather than the nine per cent initially forecast, the B.C. Real Estate Association reported Monday.
Association chief economist Cameron Muir, in his forecast updated from last fall, foresees average prices falling to $396,600 in 2009, with overall sales declining to “levels we haven’t seen since the mid-1980s.”
Housing sales, according to the BCREA forecast, will decline nine per cent from 2008 levels to 62,650 sales in 2009 before bouncing back to 68,923 units in 2010.
