PRINCE GEORGE – The City of Prince George Economic Development Division recently released its economic update for the month of July.
Employment
In July 2018, Prince George’s unemployment rate was 4.1 per cent, a decrease of 1.7 per cent when compared to the same month in 2017 when it was 5.8 per cent. The unemployment rate of 4.1 per cent for Prince George was lower than both the provincial rate of 5.0 per cent and the national rate of 5.8 per cent.
Prince George’s employment rate in July 2018 was 70.2 per cent, an increase from the same month in July 2017 when it was 66.3 per cent, a 3.9 per cent positive change.
The employment rate of 70.2 per cent for Prince George was substantially higher than Canada’s national rate of 61.3 per cent and British Columbia’s rate of 61.6 per cent.
Total employment in the Cariboo Economic Development region was 84,000 during July 2018. This represents a decrease of 200 jobs when compared to the previous month. The Cariboo region has added 4,700 jobs since January 2018 when total employment was 79,300.
The Construction industry had the greatest increase in July with an additional 600 jobs being added and Public Administration added 500 jobs. Job numbers decreased by 700 in Education; another notable reduction was 600 jobs in the Social Assistance category.
Real Estate
The Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) reported the average absorbed single-detached unit price for new housing construction for July 2018 was $478,150 with 24 new units sold in Prince George.
This is a 3.3 per cent decrease in unit price for new housing construction when compared to July 2017 when the average absorbed single detached unit price for new housing construction was $494,124 and 8 new houses were sold.The number of new houses sold in Prince George increased 200 per cent when comparing July 2018 to the same month in 2017.
Housing Construction
According to CMHC, there were 19 (14 SFD, 5 multiples) total housing starts in Prince George during July 2018 compared to 18 (18 SFD, 0 multiple) in July 2017. This is an increase of 5.5 per cent over the same month last year.
There were 26 (24 SFD, 2 multiples) completions in July 2018 while July 2017 had 7 (4 SFD, 3 multiples) completions. This is an increase of 271 per cent over the same month last year.
Year-to-date total housing starts in Prince George were 115 for 2018 while in 2017 the total housing starts were 103 at this time.
Year-to-date total housing completions in Prince George reveal another aspect of economic activity; in 2017 Prince George recorded 43 total housing completions during this time period while 2018 year-to-date total housing completions totaled 254.
Building Permits
The City of Prince George issued 56 building permits valued at $33,864,218 in July 2018, including $19,747,995 in single family and multiple residential permits, and $14,116,223 in commercial permits.
There were no industrial permits or institutional permits issued. This is a 38.0 per cent increase in dollar value of total permits over July 2017 when 49 permits were issued at a value of $24,536,989.
Year-to-date building permit statistics are impressive. In 2018 a total value of $133,721,182 in building permits were issued compared to 2017 when year-to-date building permits came in at $73,682,774.
This represents an increase of $60,038,408 or 81.5 per cent over the same period last year. Recognizing construction activity varies each month due to a number of factors, this is a very positive economic indicator for the first seven months of 2018.
Business Licenses
The City of Prince George issued 47 new business licenses and 1 business license renewal in July 2018.
Passengers
39,926 passengers moved through the Prince George International Airport (YXS) in July 2018. This was a decrease of 5.1 per cent or 2,132 fewer passengers over July 2017 when passenger volume was 42,058.
Year-to-date, air passenger traffic at YXS for 2018 is up 3.9 per cent over volumes recorded in 2017.
