From the ashes of COVID, real estate in Kelowna rose like a phoenix in 2020.

In what should have been a disaster for economic activity in all respects, 5,757 homes of all types (single-family homes, townhouses, condos, cell phones, and maisonettes and triplexes) were sold in the central Okanagan, a surprising increase of 26% 4,549 sales in 2019.

Prices also skyrocketed.

The average sales price of a detached single family home hit a record high of $ 801,735 in 2020.

It was also a record $ 854,387 in December, a staggering 26% increase from $ 679,304 in December 2019.

The Association of Interior Realtors is aiming for a reference price that it believes is a better representation of value as it represents a home with typical attributes for those sold in the area and is not skewed by some really expensive homes selling and raising the price on average .

In December, the reference retail price for a single family home was $ 746,800, up 13 percent year over year.

</who>The average sales price of a detached single family home in Kelowna was a record $ 801,735 in 2020. “Class =” img-responsive “src =” https://www.kelownanow.com/files/files/images/ Kelowna% 20home.JPG “style =” margin: 5px; “/></p> <p>What made this entire real estate anomaly possible is a fortuitous combination of factors.</p> <p>COVID caused people to reassess their lives and give new meaning to home and comfort.</p> <p>Those who had the money bought bigger and better homes, especially when the pandemic forced them to work from home.</p> <p>Many of the people living in Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary, and Toronto who had always dreamed of moving to Kelowna did so as part of the COVID introspection and lifestyle change.</p> <p>Kelowna’s status as a desirable place to live, work, and play only strengthened as the pandemic dragged on.</p> <p>All of this demand arises when inventory is low, which creates a situation where homes are snapped up as soon as they are put up for sale. This scenario also drives up prices.</p> <p>In the midst of it all, mortgage rates stayed at rock bottom so that all kinds of people could get as much home for the money as they could.</p> <p>“Last year was a very unusual year,” said Kim Heizmann, president of the Association of Interior Realtors, who is also a realtor at Century 21 in Vernon.</p> <p>In the press release, in which the numbers were presented at the end of the year, the association also described 2020 as “unexpected and extraordinary”.</p> <p><img alt=Kim Heizmann is President of the new Association of Interior Realtors and Realtors at Century 21 in Vernon. “Class =” img-responsive “src =” https://www.kelownanow.com/files/files/images/Kim%20Heizmann .jpg “style =” margin: 5px; “/>

The price for single family houses is typically used as a barometer for the market.

However, townhouses and condos make up nearly half of total sales in the central Okanagan.

The average December townhouse retail price was $ 560,782, up 15% year over year, and a condo was $ 407,000, 12% higher than December 2019.

The corresponding December reference prices for a townhouse were $ 505,000 and a condominium was $ 399,000.

The Association of Interior Realtors, which represents 1,600 realtors, was formed on January 1 when the Okanagan Mainline (Central and North Okanagan, Shuswap and Revelstoke), South Okanagan and South Peace River Region real estate agencies merged.

December residential property sales in the Revelstoke to Peachland area were 661, a whopping 65% increase over the same month last year.

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