Home sales in B.C. are expected to set a new record this year.

The B.C. Real Estate Association expects 2021 deals to shatter the current record, which was reached in 2016.

Realtors across the province in 2016 sold 112,209 homes. For 2021, sales are forecast to total 121,450.

“The strength of the first half of this year has sales on track to easily break the previous record for annual sales,” BCREA chief economist Brendon Ogmundson said.

Ogmundson made the prediction in the association’s fourth quarter housing forecast released Thursday (October 28).

The forecast noted that because of “strong demand and very low active listings”, the average price of a home in B.C. is projected to rise year-over-year by 17 percent in 2021.

This means an average price of $914,400.

In 2020, the average price was $781,559.

As for sales, after the market peaked in 2016, sales began to decrease for the next three years.

Surprisingly, the market went up in 2020, the year when COVID-19 struck and caused a frenzy in homebuying.

In 2020, a total of 94,013 homes were sold, based on figures cited by the BCREA in its fourth quarter forecast.

The anticipated record-setting volume of 121,450 home sales in 2021 would be 29.2 percent higher than the previous year.

“While we do not anticipate a repeat of the record-setting market of 2021, we do expect housing market activity to remain vigorous in 2022,” Ogmundson stated.