VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – As if anyone looking to buy in our crazy housing market needed more pressure to get a deal done quickly… there are predictions prices could jump another 25 per cent in Metro Vancouver by the end of the year.

“When we look at overall consumer demand in the province, we expect home sales to reach record levels both across BC as well in some of its largest urban centres,” says Cameron Muir, chief economist for the British Columbia Real Estate Association.

“All that sales activity, of course, has drawn down inventories and that is putting upward pressure on prices. Throughout the province, we expect the average home price to be up 20 per cent to almost $767,000 this year.”

Once again, the BCREA expects the Greater Vancouver market to lead the way with a 24.6 per cent jump in the average residential Multiple Listing Service price, pushing it to $1,125,000 by year-end.

The Fraser Valley isn’t far behind, with a predicted 22.9 per cent increase, boosting the average MLS price to $710,000 by the end of 2016.

“Even in Chilliwack, where we see a phenomenal increase in sales — up over 80 per cent year-to-date — we see significant upward pressure. There is an expected 16 per cent increase in the average price expected this year,” Muir tells NEWS 1130.

He says the expected increases in sales and home prices across the province are the result of very strong consumer confidence and population growth.

“Rather than imagining that everyone is migrating from the City of Vancouver outward, it’s more happening in place. We are seeing a significant amount of immigration coming from outside Canada as well as migration from other parts of the country. That trend is continuing as we see weakness in the Alberta economy and many of them are landing in the Lower Mainland and BC where job growth has been so significant.”

BCREA forecasts ML residential sales in the province will to climb 12.3 per cent to a record 115,200 units this year, eclipsing the previous record of 106,310 units in 2005.

Demand and price growth is expected to slow in 2017.