February UpdateSales in the Powell River residential real estate market fell into an unusual ‘middle of the road’ flat line in February for the fourth month in a row at 24 through the winter season. Instead of falling to a normal seasonal low, sales have been at the 24-25 level since November. I’m going to attribute this to the general economic uncertainty we’ve been experiencing. Bank of Canada Fall interest rates cuts of 0.75% followed by a further 0.75% in Dec/Jan pushed sales up and cushioned the winter drop. Now, with good inventory and demand, we should be seeing a pretty robust beginning to a spring market but the tariff threats seem to be dampening some of that enthusiasm. New listings fell off through the winter in anticipation of a seasonally slower market but have now jumped back up into a reasonably abundant range with 62 in February. Total inventory at 168 is also quite strong compared with the past 10 years. Monthly average prices bounce around but a 6 month rolling average shows prices reasonably level for the past year. What’s ahead? I think the market (and all of us generally!) is craving some certainty. If the tariff situation is ‘resolved’ fairly soon, there should be an uptick in activity. If it drags on and tariffs persist, it’s likely that we’ll see a recession which will most likely flatten sales considerably… not much of a prediction - sorry about that!