Central Okanagan Real Estate Stats – October 2022 (Compared to the month of September 2021)   We will break down our monthly real estate stats into two categories. The first category is a combination of all data from the local MLS. This includes all sales for the current month. The second category is the Home Price Index (HPI). The HPI provides the averages for a specific type of property within a category and sets a Benchmark Price for that category. For example, the Benchmark Price of a single family home determines the average price of a 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom home that’s about 1,500 sq ..read more

As summer winds down and the busy tourist season ends, we find ourselves in back to school season. With quieter days ahead we have more time to sit back, relax, and plan our next steps. Is it a good time to buy? Is it a good time to sell? There’s been lots of speculation on what the real estate market is doing and where it’s headed. 2021 was a busy year and set multiple records in terms of sales activity and prices. 2022 Was a different story with inventory increasing and sales slowing down. Fuelled by increasing interest rates and government policy, the average home price in the Central Okana ..read more

The British Columbia provincial government has introduced a home buyer’s protection bill that will allow a 3-day “cooling off” period from the time they have an accepted offer.   Buyers have been pressured to buy properties without proper conditions, or “subject clauses”, due to heavy competition which is leaving them with costly problems and repairs after the deal has closed   The mandatory 3-day cooling off period will give home buyers the time to arrange financing, properly inspect the home, and back out of the agreement if they change their mind within 3 days of having their offe ..read more

The Bank of Canada increased its key interest rate by a whole percentage point on Wednesday. This is the largest rate hike the country has seen in 24 years and 0.25% higher than what was expected heading into this weekend. Indicating the governments aggressive approach to tackling rapidly increasing inflation in Canada, which sits at a 39-year high of 7.7%, we should expect to see some more increases in the future. This rate hike will impact mortgages as lenders are usually quick to follow with similar rate hikes matching the BoC rate. The BoC kept rates low during the pandemic in an effort to ..read more

During a federal budget presentation this week, Canadian finance minister Chrystia Freeland announced a proposal to ban foreign buyers and non-Canadian companies from purchasing residential real estate in Canada for two years. Home values across Canada have soared more than 50% since 2020 and foreign investment has played a role in this surge of home prices. Homes in Kelowna have increased 32% in just the past 12 months alone. In 2016 British Columbia introduced a foreign buyer tax, which was originally set at 15% of the fair market value. The tax has since been increased to 20% in an effort t ..read more

Quick Stats   Single Family Detached Average Price: $1,281,050 Days To Sell: 22   Townhomes Average Price: $860,573 Days To Sell: 29   Condos Average Price: $550,328 Days To Sell: 29   Lots Average Price: $603,760 Days To Sell: 106   Segmented Analysis   Single Family Detached (Month-To-Month) New Listings: +14.65% Sales: -26.76% Average Sale Price: +32.92%   Single Family Detached (Year-To-Date) New Listings: +4.68% Sales: -22.50% Average Sale Price: +32.44%   Townhomes (Month-To-Month) New Listings: +1.32% Sales:  ..read more

The real estate market has been red hot here in British Columbia. Multiple offers have become the norm and the majority of those offers have been subject free. It’s been difficult for the typical home buyer to purchase a property and still do their due diligence. Home buyers are foregoing home inspections and many are tempted to not include a financing clause even though they are getting financing. This opens them up to a world of problems and liability.   Cooling-Off Period Introduced In British Columbia To combat this, the provincial government has introduced The Property Law Amendment ..read more

In a hot real estate market you have to pull out all the stops. With cash offers dominating the field and listings often selling for over asking price, we need to get creative in finding ways to win against competing offers. In all honesty, the highest price wins most of the time. But there are a few things you can do to make your offer more attractive to a seller. We have used these strategies many times to win a bidding war against other higher offers.   Here are 5 ways to make your offer more attractive.   Do A Pre-Offer Home Inspection Most new listings are allowing 5-7 days be ..read more

The BC Provincial Government as well as the Federal Government have a variety of programs to help home buyers with their purchase. Some of these programs can significantly reduce the cost of purchasing your property. Let’s take a look at a few of these programs.   First Time Home Buyers’ Program (provincial – BC) Eliminates or reduces the amount of Property Transfer Tax (PTT) that a purchaser has to pay. To be eligible you must have lived in BC for at least a year or filed at least 2 income tax returns as a BC resident. You must be a first time home buyer. Eligible properties are $500,000 ..read more

It’s been a busy year in the Okanagan with back to back record breaking months. Everyone seems to want to move to the Okanagan and the market has been flooded with out of town buyers from Vancouver, Alberta, and Ontario. Many have cashed out on the rising value of their home in more expensive cities to relocate here, which drove the average price in the Okanagan up over $1 Million. But are we starting to see the market cool off? The next few months will be telling. We’ve seen a “slowdown” in some areas although we are still way above market average. The smoke from the forest fires, covid trave ..read more