Housing sales down but prices jump in Kamloops, Okanagan real estate markets
Even while the number of homes sold in Kamloops and the Okanagan in February declined from a year ago, prices shot up as the number of listings remained low.
The biggest increase in single-family house prices was 39.7% in the South Okanagan where the benchmark price hit $716,700, according to data released by the Association of Interior Realtors today, March 3.
The Central Okanagan had almost as big a price hike, 37.9%, but on a much higher base value so the benchmark price for a single-family house is $1,094,000.
Kamloops came in with a benchmark price of $680,600, a 30.1% increase for a single-family house. North Okanagan prices were up 30.3% to $743,300 while Shuswap/Revelstoke had a 24.8% increase to $665,100.
The benchmark price is the typical sale price of homes in the last month and is different from average or median prices.
The Association of Interior Realtors has now expanded to include the Thompson and Kootenay regions. It already had the South Peace region within its membership.
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Throughout the entire region, 1,516 homes were sold, which is a 15% decrease from the record high in February 2021.
New residential listings dropped 12% to 1,850.
“The persistent lack of new listings coming onto market is far from adequate to meet the demand of buyer’s locally and those coming from other markets,” association president Kim Heizmann said in a news release. “We are seeing the mismatch of inventory versus demand taking a toll on buyers as they show signs of fatigue in having to compete in a seller’s market where lack of supply is putting upward pressure on pricing and further on affordability.”
She called on government to do more.
“Instead of looking for quick fixes to dampen housing demand, government policies should focus on measures that could bring more housing to the market,” she said. “Providing more options for buyers can help soften competitive market conditions and provide much needed inventory after months of supply drought.”
Prices for condos and townhomes climbed by 20 to 35% in the Thompson and Okanagan regions.
By contrast, the average price of a single-family house in the South Peace region rose only 4.2% to $267,712 and went up 14.6% in the Kootenay region to $585,716.
The news release did not list benchmark prices for these two regions.
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