Real estate on Bowen delivered gains over 2024
AVERAGE SALE PRICE UP 6.8 PER CENT
2025 closed with the average sale price LTM (last twelve months) up 6.8 per cent compared to LTM 2024. The number of sales (LTM) exceeded 2024 by 8 (59 vs 51), and dollar volume of sales LTM was $96,402,500, up 23.6 per cent over the same period in 2024.
Total inventory LTM continued to outpace uptake by buyers, with Inventory up 12.0 per cent from 2024, and the Average Number of Days on Market LTM up 23.3 per cent over 2024. Downward pressure on prices is expected to continue as the buyers’ market continues. The Benchmark or MLS® Home Price Index was down -1.5 per cent LTM from 2024.
Brendan Ogmundson, Chief Economist of the BC Real Estate Association, expressed concerns about accelerating home prices going forward.
“Unsold inventory of new homes is rising to levels not seen since the late 1990s, which, along with crippling taxes, is discouraging future development. This puts BC at risk of chronic undersupply when demand inevitably returns and a repeat of the 2010s cycle of accelerating home prices. BC risks repeating the post Global Financial Crisis housing cycle, where weak demand boosted inventories and slowed construction – only to leave the province severely undersupplied when demand rebounded, triggering rapid price escalation and worsening affordability.
- Unsold new inventory has surged to a 30-year high, especially concentrated in the apartment segment, and developers are delaying or cancelling projects because weak presales make financing nearly impossible. This dynamic threatens a future supply crunch.
- BCREA model simulations show a significant upside risk to prices, with home prices potentially rising to 27 per cent (inflation-adjusted) by 2032 as current construction shortfalls collide with recovering demand later in the decade.
- Policy action on both demand and supply sides is needed now, including measures to strengthen presales, reconsider foreign buyer participation in new construction, and reduce development costs. Without this, BC is likely to enter another prolonged affordability crisis.”1
What sold in 2025?
- The average sale on Bowen was a 2,412 square foot, 2-storey, 41-year-old home with 3-bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, and 1 kitchen home on a 1-acre lot.
- The largest home sold was a 35-year-old, 6,041 square feet home with 5 bedrooms and 6 bathrooms on a 9.8-acre site.
- The smallest home sold was a 77-year-old, 802 square foot home with 2 bedrooms and 1 bathroom on 0.2 acres.
- Sold prices averaged -4.4 per cent below the list price and 4.0 per cent above the BC Assessment. The range of sold price vs BC Assessment ranged from -26.6 per cent below assessment to 97.9 per cent above assessment.
Entering 2026 it remains important for sellers to price their home strategically and realistically as the year promises to be somewhat volatile given the economic and political unknowns going forward.
