Kelowna real estate remains a seller’s market for now
Royal LePage House Price Survey forecasts price hikes of 5% for 2018
After double-digit spikes in 2017, Kelowna home prices still have room to escalate this year. The median selling price of an average two-storey home in the city increased eight per cent last year to $718,131, bungalow prices were up 16.7 per cent to $634,927 and condominiums jumped 19.5 per cent to $412,280, according to the Royal LePage House Price Survey released Wednesday.
The red-hot real estate market is cooling a bit, but five per cent price increases are still predicted for 2018. “The Kelowna housing market remained strong in the fourth quarter of 2017, with sales keeping pace right through Christmas,” said Royal LePage Kelowna managing broker and owner Francis Braam.
“We continue to see an influx of buyers coming from Vancouver and Alberta to take advantage of Kelowna’s relative affordability.”
Kelowna’s average single-family home price of around $700,000 seems high considering the average was $550,000 in 2008, $325,000 in 2005 and $205,000 in 2002.
However, with Vancouver’s two-storey house price at $2.3 million and Toronto’s at $1.2 million, Kelowna is a bargain.
Braam isn’t surprised Kelowna is desirable and still has the capacity to get more expensive.
“Coupled with the strong economy and an influx of younger people taking advantage of employment opportunities in the city, home prices have increased and pushed the region into a seller’s market across all housing categories,” he said.
A seller’s market means there’s more demand for housing than there is supply.
Such dynamics mean home sellers will likely get what they want, or more, for their property in a short time, possibly thanks to multiple bidders.
There are a couple of reasons real estate sales and price increases are expected to slow down. First, the frenzy is over. Last year, record prices and sales spurred momentum and people bought and sold, feeling the need to be in the market before it got any hotter.
The market is calmer now, so sales and the pace of price increases have fallen back.
As well, stricter mortgage rules came into effect at the beginning of the year, forcing some borrowers to take a stress test to see if
they can afford big mortgages and cope with the risk of higher interest rates.
Other cities with two-storey home prices similar to Kelowna’s $718,131 are central Montreal, at $736,777, and Brampton, Ont., with $735,103.
Vancouver and all its suburbs, and Toronto and several of its suburbs, have higher prices than Kelowna, as does Victoria, at $835,380.
The single-most expensive market is West Vancouver, with a twostorey home price at $3.5 million.
The cheapest two-storey homes in the country can be had in Moncton. N.B., with $171,772, and Windsor, Ont., at $215,148.
Several cities bigger than Kelowna also have less expensive two-storey homes, including: Winnipeg, at $313,994; Halifax, with $337,975; London, at $404,193; Edmonton, at $443,553; Ottawa, with $466,301; Calgary, at $517,913; and Hamilton, with $591,117.