Central Okanagan
“Unusual market activity seems to be the theme this year, although not surprising considering there is nothing normal about 2020. The pandemic has definitely made people look at things differently. We are seeing higher demand likely due to post-quarantine lifestyle changes.
The Pandemic lifestyle changes (who doesn’t want to live in the Okanagan), still record low mortgage rates, very low listing inventory and a continuing migration of buyers from the Lower Mainland are driving up prices from in particular single family homes to record highs. The Albertan buyers were only making up 7% last month, likely due to the effects of the Pandemic to the oil and gas industry. The Benchmark home price (better representation than average or median house prices) was $710,700, up 6.3% from September 2019! It is also remarkable that the sales activity in the one million and up range tripled this year.
It is interesting to note that the largest type of Buyers are couples without children (29%) last month, followed by couples with children (24%), see graphic. This led me to believe that more semi-retired and retired couples aremoving and purchasing in the Kelowna area. Overall, 41% of all the buyers were out of town buyers! Also noticeable is the large amount of first time home buyers last month, 24% of all the buyers.
The average number of days to sell a home, always a good barometer to watch, barely nudged over August’s 89 days, coming in at 90 days.
BC Overall market
The British Columbia Real Estate Association (BCREA) reports that a total of 11,368 residential unit sales were recorded by the Multiple Listing Service® (MLS®) in September 2020, an increase of 63.3 percent from September 2019. The average MLS® residential price in BC set a monthly record of $803,210, a 15.3 percent increase from $696,647 recorded the previous year. Total sales dollar volume in August was $9.1 billion, an 88.3 per cent increase over 2019.
“The provincial housing market had a record-setting September,” said BCREA Chief Economist Brendon Ogmundson. “Both total sales and average prices were the highest ever for the month of September as pent-up demand from the spring pushes into the fall.”
“Average prices are skewing higher as demand for space during the pandemic drives sales of single-detached homes,” added Ogmundson. Total provincial active listings are still down about 12 per cent year-over-year, with some markets even more under-supplied as the pandemic continues to keep listings low. Year-to-date, BC residential sales dollar volume was up 25.1 per cent to $49.7 billion, compared with the same period in 2019. Residential unit sales were up 12.5 per cent to 65,023 units, while the average MLS® residential price was up 11.2 per cent to $764,298.
As always, this is just the Real Estate World according to Rom.
