(file photo/Vernon Matters)

By Pete McIntyre

Update

Residential real estate off to promising start to new year: Realtor’s group

Feb 6, 2024 | 6:30 AM

It’s good news for anyone trying to sell a home in the Okanagan.

Residential real estate activity saw an uptick in January after a subdued December.

The Association of Interior Realtors (AIR) said 603 residential unit sales were recorded across its region last month, an increase from December’s 528 units and representing a 5.6 per cent increase in sales compared to January 2023.

“Typically, we see less sales activity in the winter than the summer, however not usually straight out of the gate after the holiday season. It seems spring may be arriving early in terms of real estate activity along with the warmer temperatures,” AIR president Chelsea Mann said.

(Association of Interior Realtors image)

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AIR said 57 housing units were sold in the North Okanagan last month, up 5.6 per cent from January 2023, but down from the 60 sales in December.

The benchmark price for a single family home was $728,100, up 3.4 per cent from a year ago while for townhouses, it rose 14.2 per cent to $610,100. It’s taking an average of 94 days to sell a home.

The Central Okanagan’s benchmark price for single family homes was $989,800, an increase of 2.3 per cent. with an average of 76 days to sell it.

(Image credit: Association of Interior Realtors)

New residential listings saw a slight decrease of 0.9 per cent compared to January 2023, coming in almost on par with 1,576 new listings recorded last month. The total number of active listings saw an increase of 16.5 per cent of total inventory compared to January 2023 with 5,701 recorded across the Association region.

“It is promising to see active listings trending at an upward trajectory despite being slightly under what we would like to see,” Mann said, adding that “with the infusion of much needed inventory, we are seeing a relatively balanced market when looking at sales to active listings ratio.”