Strongest June in last 8 years for Okanagan real estate

KELOWNA – Homes in the central Okanagan are selling fast and furious, with the market so active that home sales for the month of June are at an eight year high.

Kris McLaughlin is one of many Kelowna realtors running off his feet these days.

“We are almost in mid July and it feels the busyness of June has certainly carried over,” he says.

According to the Okanagan Mainline Real Estate Board, residential sales rose by nearly 12 per cent from June 2014 to June 2015. Comparing the first half of both years, sales are up by 15 per cent.

“This feels like like Expo 86 did in Vancouver. Vancouver was discovered in 1986, 87, 89,” says realtor Steve Wright.“All the people came and stayed and that is what it feels like because we have people coming from all over country.”

According to Wright, that includes Albertans despite the downturn in the oil sector.

“When oil prices dropped, we saw a drop in sales from Alberta. Alberta buyers typically represent 18 to 20 per cent,” says Wright.

“It dropped to around 11 per cent but it’s back now at 18.”

Condos and single family homes under the half a million dollar mark are driving the boom, increasing prices in the process. In June 2014, the average price of a house in the central Okanagan was around $425,000. Now it’s approximately $527,000.

While housing sales are booming in the central Okanagan, it’s a bit of a different story elsewhere. In the Shuswap, residential sales remain relatively unchanged from June 2014 to June of this year, as Alberta’s downturn has stalled the sale of high end lakeside properties.

Meanwhile, in the North Okanagan, sales actually dipped by almost eight per cent from June of last year to this year, and in the Penticton area residential sales rose only by about one per cent.