Kamloops and Okanagan lagging far behind BC in real estate activity
While February wasn’t a banner month in the BC real estate world, it was a big improvement over a year ago with growth in both sales and prices.
But Kamloops and the Okanagan didn’t mirror the provincial pattern with mostly declines, according to data released this week by the BC Real Estate Association.
The number of sales was up 15.3% in BC, but down 3.4% in the Okanagan. Kamloops did see an increase of 4.5% in sales, but that’s still well below the provincial average.
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The average price for all homes sold in BC was up 4.7% to 987,789.
Kamloops prices fell, but only slightly. The average selling price was $614,261, which is a 0.3% decline from February 2023.
The Okanagan faced a much bigger drop at 7.1% to $700,894.
The provincial totals were heavily influenced by the Lower Mainland market, especially in the Fraser Valley where sales jumped 37.8% from last year and prices were up by 8.3%.
"The BC housing market is in a period of relative calm entering the spring," the association’s chief economist Brendon Ogmundson said in a news release.
"While activity is picking up, home sales remain below normal, and home prices have been essentially flat since last summer."
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