Vancouver's average home $900,000 in '08 Derrick Penner, Vancouver Sun Published: Saturday, November 03, 2007 VANCOUVER - Expect the average single-family home price to hit $900,000 in Greater Vancouver next year as new jobs and new people moving in keep the city a seller's market, according to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. However, while CMHC is forecasting that the region's average price across all property types will rise nine per cent in 2008, the market will have reached "cruising altitude," according to CMHC analyst Robyn Adamache, who used the analogy of an airplane flight to describe the point that Vancouver is in within the market cycle. "The ride up is always exciting, kind of thrilling, a little scary," she said in an interview. Email to a friend Printer friendly Font: Now, however, the flight has leveled off and the city has "so far avoided" the turbulence that has beset American real estate markets. In the market cycle, Adamache said sales peaked in 2005, and inventory levels of unsold homes are rising. With the Vancouver region experiencing still strong economic conditions, she believes there is still room for prices to rise. Adamache's forecast anticipates the arrival of some 35,000 new residents to the city and the creation of 33,000 new jobs, and "it's job growth and population growth that supports demand." CMHC regional economist Carol Frketich said uncertainty in U.S. housing and investment markets is the biggest threat to B.C.'s real-estate outlook, but so far the damage there hasn't cut too deeply. Frketich forecasts that Expected U.S. housing starts this year of about 1.2 million are the lowest in 14 years, Frketich said, and "there is no debating that housing in the U.S. is in recession." However, U.S. job, income, manufacturing and export growth are all in positive territory, which Frketich said is expected to keep the overall American economy out of a recession. The decline in U.S. construction does hurt B.C.'s lumber sector, Frketich said, but overall B.C.'s real estate sector will head into its seventh straight year of sellers'-market conditions. Frketich's forecast is for just under 100,000 sales in 2008, down slightly from 2007 and the average B.C. home to climb a further six per cent to $464,500 in 2008. "As long as people can afford to pay the prices, they will continue to push up prices," Frketich said in an interview. "[The forecast] is a plateau in resale activity, new home construction and price growth." depenner@png.canwest.com