The Fall Market

Real estate sales decided not to take a breather this fall. September saw more units sold than August and was up a whopping 36% over last year at this time. Fewer listings also came on stream comparing to
August and now the active inventory is only 3,537 compared to 4,232 in September last year. Granted, over 3,500 listings is still quite a number! Offering a good selection in most locations and buyer price ranges, but we are seeing prices moving upwards at a rate of about 8% so far this year on
average for a single family home in the greater Kelowna area. Condos are not quite as strong as they are up only about 4% in price, but they do lead the way with the most activity in residential sales by quite a bit. thereby reducing the one time glut of overbuilt condos for sale.
The way October has started off, it appears this active fall market will continue yet for a while, but how long? Only time will tell. Resource rich Alberta shows no signs of slowing down and that is always a good indicator as to how the Okanagan market will go. Combine the ongoing low interest rates with the buyer demand, from both local and out of province buyers, and a very good selection of product, we will likely see the strongest fall market we have seen since 2007 but without the same high prices. This coming winter will be very interesting to watch and predict.

HIGGINS REPORT ON THE MARKET MAY 2012

The Okanagan Mainline Real
Estate Board reported 9,651 Active MLS®
Listings with 5,283 of them being located in
the Central Okanagan Zone boundaries available
for sale. The listing inventory is down
only slightly, 1.55%, from 2011 YTD inventory
of 5,302 units. 1,215 Properties were
listed on the MLS® in the month of May
which is on par with 2011’s May listing numbers
of 1,214. Buyers have ample selection
and competitively priced homes are selling
quicker than the average 90 days to sell.
The local real estate market was much
improved during the month of May with a
19.13% sale unit increase over last year.
436 Properties traded hands in May 2012 in
comparison to 366 properties in May of 2011.
Year to date unit sales are up 7.95% with
1,629 units of sales in 2012 in comparison to
1,509 units of sale in 2011. The Average
Residential Sale Price YTD is $461,777 which
is down 1.45% compared to last YTD Average
Sale Price in 2011 of $468,560. Noteworthy
YTD unit sales increases include Duplex sales
up 43.48%, Apartment sales up 17.71%,
Acreage sales up 37.5% and Total Lot sales
up 27.87%.
Real estate market experts remain cautiously
optimistic about the recovery and predict
moderate growth in 2012 and 2013.