Single-family home sales in the Central Okanagan have dropped for the sixth consecutive month.
“The market is a little bit more calm and there doesn’t seem to be any sense of urgency from the buyer or the seller,” Kelowna realtor Lora Proskiw said.
According to the Okanagan Mainline Real Estate Board (OMREB), the sale of homes has been steadily declining since May.
READ MORE: House sales slowing in Central Okanagan
According to the latest statistics released by OMREB, October saw the sale of 173 homes, a drop of 22 per cent from October 2017 (220 homes sold).
“We are moving into a more balanced market,” Proskiw said. “If you evaluate sales month over month, we are just seeing that it’s moving away from a seller’s market, potentially towards a buyer’s market.”
Proskiw said the softening market means more buyers are taking their time before making the big purchase.
“They are waiting to see if prices are going to come down, so they don’t want to engage right now,” she told Global News. “Some of the buyers that want to purchase, their property is on the market so they are waiting for their sale to happen before they can write an offer on another property, so it’s kind of that domino effect.”
While the average price of a home has stopped rising, it hasn’t really dropped either, remaining relatively unchanged from this time last year.
According to OMREB, the average price of a single-family home in the Central Okanagan in October was $667,490. That compares to $672,434 in October 2017.
Proskiw said while there seems to be a little flurry of activity in the $600,000 to $700,000 range, anything above that has become a lot quieter.
The cooling market has many, especially potential buyers, wondering if prices will come down and reflect the decline in sales.
“It could and yes that is something that could happen.” Proskiw said.
But if it does, it could take months, leaving potential buyers in limbo.
“It’s kind of a funny time right now, where buyers don’t quite know what to do,” Proskiw said.
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