The Okanagan’s strong summer for real estate is carrying over into the fall.
Real estate agent Jesse East said buyers are attracted to the Okanagan.
“It’s been really busy the last few months, things started to heat up and then it continued,” said East, a RE/MAX Kelowna realtor.
“They want to be here for lifestyle more than anything, and that’s something we’ve seen for years but has really picked up with COVID-19.”
Ron Posein, a Kelowna resident, has his home on the market. He said it’s a great time to list a home in the Okanagan.
“I think it’s a good market, we renovated it and things like that. It’s a good location of course,” Posein told Global News on Saturday.
“We might downgrade or upgrade.”
The Okanagan Mainline Real Estate Board echoed East’s comments about COVID-19 affecting Okanagan’s real estate market.
“I think what COVID-19 has done has allowed a lot of people to reassess their quality of life and I think the Okanagan is proving to be a backyard that everyone wants to have,” Kim Heizmann, the Okanagan Mainline Real Estate Board’s president.
The real estate board has released information on three key areas in the Okanagan region, comparing September 2020 to September 2019.
The Central Okanagan has seen 356 single family homes sold, an 83 per cent increase from this time last year.
The North Okanagan saw a 101 per cent increase in single family homes sold as well as a 64 per cent increase in condo sales.
In the Shuswap Revelstoke area, it saw a large increase in condo sales at 83 per cent, as well as a 36 per cent increase in single family homes.
Looking forward, East said he thinks the strong market will continue, albeit for how long is a question mark.
“I expect the market to stay strong for the next month or two but we are very volatile,” said East.
“If something goes wrong in the world markets or south of the border, (it could affect us). It’s hard to predict what is going to happen.”