Single-family home prices in Okanagan take another leap upward
The benchmark selling price of single-family homes in the Central and North Okanagan jumped by just over 30 per cent in June versus May and they went up almost 40 per cent in the Shuswap/Revelstoke region.
The South Okanagan, which uses average rather than benchmark prices, increased 23.3 per cent, according to a news release from the Association of Interior Realtors.
The price increases came at a time when the number of sales for the association’s entire region (which includes the South Peace River) fell to 1,381 in June from 1,482 in May and the number of new listings increased to 3,126 from 2,554.
“As more and more consumers get fully vaccinated, and with the province in Step 3 of the re-opening plan, we might see more inventory come on market as anxiety around listing homes may be easing for sellers who weren’t comfortable to do so during COVID restrictions,” association president Kim Heizmann said in a news release.
Housing sales reached record levels earlier in the year as the pent-up demand from COVID combined with a reluctance of people to list their homes to fuel a very hot market.
More new listings may have cooled the pace of buying but the prices certainly aren’t moderating.
“The market is still very much a hot market, maybe just not boiling hot anymore,” Heizmann said. “Like the weather this past week, it went from 40 plus degrees to a more comfortably warm 30 something degrees, which is still warm by all accounts.”
The benchmark price is for the typical house sold in a market.
In the Central Okanagan, for single-family homes, that went up 31.6 per cent to $915,100. Prices in the North Okanagan were up 33.1 per cent to $660,500 while the Shuswap/Revelstoke region went up 39.7 per cent to $611,300. The average price in the South Okanagan went up 23.3 per cent to $749,376.
Benchmark prices for townhomes in the northern regions went up by 24-28 per cent, with selling prices ranging from $430,000 in the North Okanagan to $637,200 in the Central Okanagan.
Condo prices climbed 18-24 per cent, with prices ranging from $287,900 in the North Okanagan to $459,300 in the Central Okanagan.
In Penticton, the average price of townhomes was up only 1.7 per cent to $420,156 while condo prices jumped 54.6 per cent to $456,203.
In the Okanagan, single-family homes accounted for 660 of 1,134 housing units sold. There were 288 condos and 186 townhomes sold.
The Central Okanagan accounted for the majority of the sales at 651.
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