Image Credit: SUBMITTED/B.C. Assessment

It appears the novel coronavirus pandemic is loosening its effect on the housing market in Kamloops as well as the Central, North Okanagan and Shuswap as real estate sales almost doubled in May compared to the month before.

According to figures from the Okanagan Mainline Real Estate Board, housing sales jumped 95 per cent in May from April, however, sales still took a big hit, down 42 per cent compared to the same month in 2019.

The Real Estate Board reports 446 units sold in May, up from 299 units in April.

Statistics from the Kamloops and District Real Estate Association paint a similar picture with sales of single-family homes down 52 per cent in May compared to the same month 2019. Prices still managed to increase though, with single-family homes up by nine per cent.

While the volume of sales certainly is down, the price of a single-family home still climbed in the region from Peachland to Revelstoke, albeit modestly with increases between five per cent in the Central Okanagan to one-and-a-half per cent in the Shuswap/Revelstoke.

Townhouses and condos didn't fair as well, with sales and prices declining in all markets across the region, with the exception of the Central Okanagan. Sales of townhouses in the Central Okanagan felt by 44 per cent, however, the price still managed to creep up by 1.7 per cent.

"While we are still in the midst of a global pandemic it is encouraging to see that residential sales are moving at an upward trajectory,” Okanagan Mainline Real Estate Board president Kim Heizmann said in a media release. "We are starting to see a return to real estate activity which looks promising for the future, however, we remain cautious about predicting future outcomes as many economic factors will have impacts."

The number of properties on the market increased nine per cent in May compared to April but is still 16 per cent lower than the same month the year before. The average number of days to sell a home also increased to 91 days in May from 83 days in April.

In Penticton, sagging South Okanagan real estate sales did not seem to have a negative effect on the average sale price of a single family home, according to May real estate statistics.

The South Okanagan Real Estate Board says the average price of a single-family home rose by nine per cent to $605,768 compared to $553,636 in May 2019.

That’s in spite of the fact single family monthly sales declined by 39 per cent from 117 units last May to 71 units sold in May.

The number of active listings also dropped 11 per cent, from 1,417 last May to 1,262 this May.

Overall sales volume was down from $92,856,414 in May, 2019 to $61,803,933 in May, 2020, a decline of 34 per cent.

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News from © iNFOnews, 2020