Benchmark price for Kelowna home up 29.9% from year ago, now $961K

The demand for Okanagan real estate remains strong, according to a new report.

On Thursday, the Association of Interior Realtors (AIR) released data for October, and the numbers showed strong pricing, but also an ongoing inventory shortage.

“Demand is still strong despite chronically low supply, but we are seeing a healthier environment for buyers and sellers compared to what we saw in 2020 and earlier in the year,” said AIR president Kim Heizmann, adding that “sales are transpiring at a good, healthy pace.”

According to the association, the benchmark price for homes in the Central Okanagan, North Okanagan, South Okanagan and Shuswap/Revelstoke regions continue to show double-digit percentage increases in year-over-year comparisons in all home categories.

One month ago, AIR said the benchmark price for a single-family home in September was $923,500.

The association says it uses benchmark pricing, instead of average or median pricing, as averages can be misleading due to atypical transactions.

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Single-family homes

• Central Okanagan: $961,600, up 29.9 per cent from one year ago.
• North Okanagan: $693,800, up 31.0 per cent.
• Shuswap/Revelstoke: $648,300, up 35.7 per cent.
• South Okanagan: $673,800, up 36.0 per cent.

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Townhomes

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• Central Okanagan: $685,900, up 29.7 per cent from one year ago.
• North Okanagan: $437,200, up 18.2 per cent.
• Shuswap/Revelstoke: $466,100, up 19.1 per cent.
• South Okanagan: $462,200, up 26.7 per cent.

Condo/apartment

• Central Okanagan: $477,700, up 22.5 per cent from one year ago.
• North Okanagan: $301,200, up 24.2 per cent.
• Shuswap/Revelstoke: $382,700, up 20.2 per cent.
• South Okanagan: $368,892, up 14.3 per cent.

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Though each category has shown double-digit price increases from one year ago, the number of units available in each category has dropped dramatically.

For example, there were 464 single-family homes for sale in Kelowna in October, a drop of 30.3 per cent from a year ago.

For townhomes, there were 136 units in Kelowna for October, a drop of 47.9 per cent, while the number of condos and apartments (239) fell 58.1 per cent.

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“The inventory, or supply of active residential listings, was down 39 per cent across the association region compared to the 4,308 active listings during October 2020, while new listings slipped 12 per cent over last year October’s 1,372 units,” the association said in its press release.

“As we head into the final months of the year, we can see that this supply drought or lack of new listings has really become the main theme of the year,” said Heizmann.

“It will be interesting to see if this trend maintains or changes in 2022.”

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