B3

Matt McCann
for the TELEGRAPH-JOURNAL

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Saint John's housing market has posted one of the largest gains in Atlantic Canada, as the average price of two-storey homes rose 21.6 per cent to $291,788 over the last quarter, according to a recent housing price survey report.

The report, released by Royal LePage Real Estate Services, shows significant increases in the housing markets in Saint John, N.B. and St. John's, N.L. - two provinces driven by large-scale energy projects.

"There's a lot of industry going on here and the economy in general is very strong," said Kevin Butler, manager of Royal LePage Atlantic Ltd. in Rothesay. "A lot of people are moving back here from out west. They're selling their bungalows in Calgary, and coming back."

Overall, Butler said, there's been a 26 per cent increase in the amount of units sold in the Saint John area since last September, and an average real estate price increase of 7.5 per cent.

Though Saint John did see condominium prices drop by 18.9 per cent, bungalow prices rose 7.4 per cent.

Meanwhile, New Brunswick's two other large cities - Moncton and Fredericton - didn't fare as well.

According to the report, bungalow prices in Moncton decreased by 0.3 per cent to $156,000 and two-storey home prices decreased by 2.6 per cent to $131,500, while in Fredericton, bungalows and two-storey homes rose by only 4.5 per cent and 6.6 per cent, respectively.

"That's where the market is right now, if you look overall," said Carla Bouchard, owner of Royal LePage in Metro Moncton.

Bouchard said the number of units sold in Moncton is down, but sales volume is still up due to higher housing prices over the past few years spurred by new home construction, which drives up the average sale price.

"We're cooling like a lot of other markets, but we're not crashing by any means," she said.

"We're still above the industry standard across the country."

The report, which surveyed housing in over 250 neigbourhoods across the country, shows a national average price increase of 7.1 per cent for two-storey homes, a 6.9 per cent increase in bungalow prices and a 10.3 per cent rise in condominium costs, year over year.

Bouchard said she's confident that Moncton will post a moderate increase of two or three per cent at the end of the year, but said she expects unit sales to be down over last year.

"As we go into 2009, we're going to get back into higher inventories and we're going to cool a little bit.

"We never really have big peaks or valleys, but stay about status quo," she said, adding that the average home price in Moncton - $156,800 - is still one of the cheapest in the country, and reflects a stable market.

Valerie Folk, area manager for Royal LePage Atlantic, said the trends in Atlantic Canada are similar to those nationally.

"We are starting to see some of the activity starting to wane, with everything that's going on right now," she said, referring to the U.S. financial crisis. "Most of the prices have remained solid, and still rising in some cases. We've had such a boom the last couple of years that the upward percentage had to slow somewhat, but it's still healthy."