Home sales getting back on track

Jul 5, 2020 | 8:17 AM

Analysts say the Okanagan’s real estate market is showing signs of bouncing back from the Covid pandemic, with residential sales in June across the region up 77 per cent compared to May.

The Okanagan Mainline Real Estate Board (OMREB) says 240 units were sold in the North Okanagan in June and the average residential price was up 1.92 per cent to $524,355.

In the Central Okanagan, there were 261 sales of single family homes and the average residential price was up 5.27 per cent to $730,185.

OMREB said 791 units were sold across the region of Revelstoke to Peachland, a 9 per cent increase compared to this time last year

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New residential listings also saw an increase coming in at 1,494 new listings over last month’s 1,198. The overall number of active listings also showed an increase of 4 per cent over May’s inventory of 3,792 while not quite meeting last year June’s inventory, coming in 14 per cent lower.

“These numbers are a positive indicator that real estate in the Okanagan is recovering from the pandemic induced slowdown of the previous three months,” said OMREB President Kim Heizmann, adding that “while we are not on the other side of this yet, this is a cautiously optimistic sign that the housing market may bounce back sooner than forecast.”

The average number of days to sell a home, always a good barometer to watch, also improved this month dropping down 6 per cent to 85 days.

OMREB reports on all market statistics for the entire board region and the indicators will vary depending on home type and sub-region.

OMREB is a member-governed not-for-profit association representing approximately 1300 Realtors and 88 real estate offices within the southern interior region of British Columbia (Peachland to Revelstoke).

by Pete McIntyre

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