Demand for Okanagan residential sales still strong

Sales for homes in the area stretching from Revelstoke to Peachland are up by about 70 per cent in November compared to the same period last year, according to the latest real estate stats.

“The supply of homes for sale, or overall active listings, is still struggling to meet the high demand,” the Okanagan Mainline Real Estate Board said in a news release.

According to November’s statistics, total sales this year were up by more than 20 per cent over last year, with 9,229 units sold in 2020 compared to 7,616 in 2019.

Approximately $5.4 billion has been done in sales so far this year, compared to $3.9 billion last year, which is a jump of about 36 per cent.

“Looking at the numbers we can see that consumer demand is not being met due to record low listings, which creates upward pressure on pricing. Essentially, the demand is so high that it is difficult for inventory to build up,” said Kim Heizmann, Okanagan Mainline Real Estate Board’s president.

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The number of active listings in the region last month dropped nearly 20 per cent from October and is 30 per cent below November 2019’s active listings.

The number of days to sell a home went up seven per cent to 88 days in November.

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Meanwhile, in the South Okanagan, the real estate board is also reporting unusually high activity.

The region saw a 71 per cent jump in single-family home sales in November, compared to the same month last year.

It’s also seeing a lower number of active listings compared to this time last year, dropping a quarter from 1,772 in November 2019 to 1,326 in November 2020.

“Whether it is the need for more space, having the ability to work remotely or simply low interest rates making it more affordable for buyers to purchase move-up properties or all of the above; supply isn’t meeting the demand,” South Okanagan Real Estate Board president Lyndi Cruickshank said.

“When inventory is not able to build up, but you have extremely high demand this creates upward pressure on pricing as we can see from the data. There doesn’t seem to be any sign of this demand waning.”