Significant new housing increase in Kelowna during first half of 2021
Twice as many homes were created in Kelowna in the first half of 2020 compared to the five year average.
A report going to city council on Monday, Sept. 20, shows that 2,195 new housing units were created up until the end of June. The report doesn’t explain what created means in this context.
In the first half of the past five years, an average of 1,025 housing units were created with the 10-year average being 676.
There were two main reasons cited in the report for the increase in 2021.
Early in the year, developers rushed to get applications processed before they had to pay roughly $7,000 per unit into a fund to help pay to build new parks.
READ MORE: Kelowna city council raising charges to developers to pay for parks
On June 1, new building code rules came into place so homes have to be built to Step 3 on a B.C. Energy Step Code, meaning homes have to be more energy efficient and, therefore, the building costs go up.
READ MORE: Get more bang for your energy-saving buck by renovating rather than building new
The city is also on pace to match the peak home building years of 2016 and 2019, the report says.
So far this year, it has issued permits for 2,418 units compared to the five year average of 2,106 units.
These numbers are different than the numbers above because a building permit doesn’t necessarily mean construction of the home has started.
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