Kitimat increases highest in 2014 B.C. values
With more buyers calling on Kitimat’s real estate office than sellers and little new construction, it’s no surprise British Columbia’s new boom town is the leading northern resource community to see its 2014 property assessments skyrocket.
On average, the assessed value of single-family homes in Kitimat shot up 26.7 per cent, according to BC Assessment valuations released Thursday, to hit $228,000 from $180,000 a year ago.
“I’ve got a pool of buyers that I can’t find homes for,” said Kitimat realtor Shannon Dos Santos. “As soon as (listings) come on, we do our rounds, call our people, and if they jump, they get it. If they wait a day or two, they’ve pretty much lost the property.”
And although none of half-dozen major liquefied natural gas proposals in the planning stages for Kitimat and Prince Rupert have received final commitments, their mere potential, among new mines and other projects, is driving property values in communities across the region.
Dos Santos said it has been a busy year in Kitimat, and between new residents moving in as part of Rio Tinto Alcan’s major smelter modernization or the planning for three liquefied natural gas plants, or speculators, the small town’s inventory has been depleted.
“It’s a combination, but 50 per cent or more who are purchasing are investors,” Dos Santos said.
It is the second year of doubledigit jumps for Kitimat, which is coming off several years of depressed activity in its real estate market, said Christopher Whyte, BC Assessment’s deputy assessor for the northern region.
“BC Assessment can’t really comment on what’s driving Kitimat, but if you look across our whole northern region, the resource sector is still holding strong,” Whyte said.