Supply down, housing prices shoot way up
With the supply of active listings down by nearly half compared to last summer, it’s no wonder home prices are still surging in the Okanagan.
“The market has slowed down slightly due to a chronic lack of inventory but it’s by no means slow. Listings are at record lows and not replenishing to meet the high demand,” said Kim Heizmann, president of the Association of Interior Realtors, in a press release.
Residential sales across the association’s territory — which stretches from Revelstoke to Manning Park and also includes the South Peace region — totalled 1,140 in August, down 15% from August 2020.
More notably, there were 5,556 active listings across the association’s territory in August, down 46% on a year-over-year basis.
“This chronic shortage of supply is putting upward pressure on pricing and making it a strong seller’s market,” noted Heizmann.
In the Central Okanagan, the benchmark price of a single-family home rose to $962,000 in August, up 35% on a year-over-year basis, with 236 sales that took an average of 30 days to complete.
In the North Okanagan, the benchmark price of a single-family home climbed to $683,000, a 33% hike year-over-year, on 97 sales that closed in an average of 33 days.
Benchmark properties are those with what the realtors’ association considers “typical” assets that provide a more accurate indicator than a pure average.
And in the South Okanagan, where benchmark pricing isn’t available, the average sale
price of a single-family home rose 10% yearover-year to $780,000, based on 116 deals that took an average of 57 days to close.
The Association of Interior Realtors was
formed on Jan. 1 through the amalgamation of the Okanagan Mainline Real Estate Board and the South Okanagan Real Estate Board, and represents approximately 1,600 realtors.