Housing prices drop in Kamloops, Okanagan despite shortage of listings
Kamloops saw a dramatic $121,000 drop in the benchmark price for single-family houses in April versus March. That means the typical house sold for $635,400.
While there were 413 new listings in Kamloops for the month, that’s 23.1% fewer than this time last year.
“The chronic lack of supply has been a common theme for the last few years with new listings simply not hitting the market as actively to meet the demand of growing communities,” Association of Interior Realtors president Chelsea Mann said in news release issued today, May 4. “The limited housing stock makes it really challenging for motivated buyers to find what they are looking for within their price range.”
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The average sale price for single-family houses in the Central Okanagan fell almost $4,000 but was still well above the $1 million mark at $1,083,027.
Single-family house prices were down $54,461 in the South Okanagan to $732,851.
Average house prices jumped $69,765 in the North Okanagan to $831,090.
In the townhome category, prices were up in most regions.
Average prices rose by almost $44,500 in the South Okanagan and almost $38,000 in the Central Okanagan but fell by close to $28,000 in the North Okanagan.
The benchmark townhouse prices rose almost $20,000 in Kamloops.
In the condo market, average prices were up almost $36,000 in the North Okanagan and almost $12,000 in the Central Okanagan but fell $17,376 in the South Okanagan.
Benchmark condo prices in Kamloops fell almost $10,000.
For the association’s region as a whole – which includes Shuswap/Revelstoke, Kootenays and South Peace – sales were down 30.6% from a “frenzied” April 2022, the release says.
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Sales in the region are expected to remain soft for the rest of this year, according to a B.C. Real Estate Association analysis released earlier this week.
Sales should recover to more normal levels next year, it says. It predicts average prices will fall 7% in the Okanagan this year and 5% in Kamloops.
In 2024, prices are expected to rise 3% in the Okanagan and 2% in Kamloops.
— Price comparisons were corrected in this article at 11:03 a.m. Friday, May 5, 2023.
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