Condos springing up

When people converge on the fairgrounds this week to take in the B.C. Northern Exhibition, they’ll notice a large blue building southwest of Exhibition Park that wasn’t there last year.

That huge four-storey structure will soon be home to hundreds of Prince George residents. The 40-unit condominium complex is part of the Framework 22 development taking shape at the west end of 22nd Avenue. Built by Hayer Construction, it’s one of several multi-family housing developments that are changing the face of Prince George.

According to a Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) report released last month, housing starts in the province are not keeping pace with population growth and shortages are keeping prices high, reducing affordability. The average price of a house in Prince George at the end of June was $529,729, up nearly $74,000 from June 2021.

In May and June, the city issued building permits for 18 new single-family homes, two new multi-family developments and four new mobile homes. During the first six months of the year, permits were approved for 52 new single-family homes (down from 61 over the same period in 2021), 10 new mobile homes (down by one from January to June 2021), five new duplexes (down from seven in January to June 2021) and 12 new multi-family developments (down from 28 in the same period of 2021).