Advertisement

Okanagan single-family home sales drop

VERNON – There’s still plenty of optimism in the Okanagan real estate industry, despite a sudden slump in housing sales. From Peachland to Revelstoke, single-family home sales were down substantially in September compared to the same time last year.

Numbers from the Okanagan Mainline Real Estate Board (OMREB) show single-family home sales were down in September compared to the same month last year. The biggest change was in the central Okanagan where single-family home sales dropped more than 14 per cent year over year. Single-family home sales in the north Okanagan and Shuswap were also down, 8.7 per cent and 7.8 per cent respectively.

“We’ve come off at or near record levels of sales in the previous two months,” says OMREB vice president Anthony Bastiaanssen. “[It’s] not unusual to see it to be…a little tempered but it’s still robust.”

Realtor Chris Docksteader paints a similar picture.

Story continues below advertisement
“It would be unrealistic for us to think we could stay on the pace that we have been on in recent months. We are seeing what I would describe as a very balanced, good, strong level of activity right now. It is just not the insanity that we have seen previously,” says Docksteader. “I think with the kids going back to school [and] with people focusing on other things, I think we might just be seeing a little bit of a blip in the market.”

Local realtors suggest questions about the future of the economy or the result of the federal election may also be playing a role.

Going forward OMREB says it’s not seeing any evidence that September’s numbers are the start of a trend. It’s still expecting to see strong sales this fall.

Sponsored content

AdChoices