Fort St. John home ownership one of most affordable in B.C., report finds

FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. — Fort St. John is one of the most affordable communities in which to own a home in northern B.C. for the sixth year in a row.

That’s according to the BC Northern Real Estate Board (BCNREB)’s latest Housing Affordability Indicators report. 

The report compares the average cost of owning a home in a given community to the average earnings of a typical household in that community.

“These include mortgage costs, municipal taxes and fees, and utilities for the average single-family home,” the report explains. “The higher the measure, the more difficult it is to afford a home.”

Fort St. John’s measure for 2024 is 25.6 per cent, a 1.8 per cent decline from last year and the second-lowest percentage out of all communities measured in the report.

The only community considered more affordable in northern B.C., the report claims, is Kitimat, which measured 24.1 per cent.

For reference, the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation considers a measure of 30 per cent or lower to be “affordable.”

Northern B.C. as a whole measured 34.6 per cent in 2024, a 1.3 per cent improvement from the year before. 

The northern community with the highest measurement was 100 Mile House at 63.2 per cent, 0.1 per cent less affordable than in 2023.

“The affordability of home ownership in northern B.C. is exceptionally favourable when compared with the Vancouver area, which experienced only marginally improved affordability, clocking in at 133.0 per cent for 2024,” the report adds.

To view the full BCNREB Housing Affordability Indicators report, look below.

Regarding the first months of 2025, the BCNREB issued its first quarterly report for the year earlier this month, saying Fort St. John has seen a slight increase in property sales compared to the start of 2024.

On April 17th, the BC Northern Real Estate Board issued a correction for a portion of the report unrelated to this story. We’ve updated this article to include the corrected version of the report below.