Kamloops up and Okanagan down compared to rest of BC real estate market
Despite a slowdown in real estate sales and prices in September versus August, the BC real estate market did better this September than in 2022.
Overall, sales were up in BC by 10.4% and prices up by 4.8% compared to September 2022, according to data released by the BC Real Estate Association today, Oct. 12.
Kamloops beat the provincial average with a 13.2% increase in sales (206) compared to last year and a 7.1% increases in average prices to $598,528 across all housing categories.
The trend was the opposite in the Okanagan where sales dropped by 17.5% to 541 units in September and prices fell 10.8% to $732,460.
The Okanagan was one of only two real estate regions to see a drop in price or sales and it experienced, by far, the most dramatic declines.
The BC Northern region saw a 1.7 drop in sales while the Kootenay region experienced a 4.5% drop in prices.
In BC, the average price for homes was $966,530 with Victoria, the Fraser Valley and Greater Vancouver regions all being more than $1 million. The Greater Vancouver region had the highest average price at $1,294,000.
READ MORE: Real estate sales and prices plummet in Kamloops, Okanagan
While sales in the province are up from this time last year, they have fallen from this summer when they reached historic average levels.
Sales are down by about 40% from the winter of 2022 before the Bank of Canada started raising interest rates.
“Home sales in BC have clearly been impacted by the Bank of Canada's recent tightening of interest rates, along with the resulting surge in mortgage rates,” Brendon Ogmundson, the chief economist for the real estate association, said in a news release. “Home sales are once again trending at below average levels as potential buyers struggle with a high cost of borrowing.”
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