Despite rosy real estate forecasts when the $18 billion LNG Canada terminal began construction in the northeast B.C. city in 2018, Kitimat housing sales have been falling ever since and hit a six-year low in the first quarter of 2023.
Kitimat housing sales plunged to just 31 transactions in the first three months of this year, down more than 70 per cent from the 110 sales peak in Q1 2018 when LNG Canada began the biggest private energy project in Canadian history.Re/Max Kitimat agent and city councillor Graham Pitzel recalls when the official announcement was made of LNG Canada’s approval.“It is not that like that now,” added the long-time Kitimat resident.
Pitzel said that, unlike many smaller towns in B.C., Kitimat did not see a surge in home sales during COVID-19 and the huge work camps – housing up to 7,000 workers – were locked down during the pandemic, which meant LNG workers were not spending money in nearby Kitimat. Currently the total cost of the LNG project, including the Coastal GasLink pipeline and drilling in the North Montney gas fields near Dawson Creek, total $48.3 billion.