It’s not news that Kelowna house prices are on the decline because of jacked up mortgage interest rates, skyrocketing inflation and a major bout of consumer uncertainty.
What would be news is if anyone knew how far and how long the tumble will be.
Since no one has a crystal ball, all we have right now are predictions, forecasts, prognostications and downright guesses.
“Does this mean this is the bottom?” asked ReMax Kelowna realtor Colin Krieg while discussing the drop in Kelowna house prices.
“It’s too soon to say. But, my gut feeling tells me that we won’t know until spring.”
This 2,800-square-foot, five-bedroom, three-bathroom house on Sundance Drive is listed for sale for $997,000, which is exactly what the benchmark selling price of a typical single-family home was in Kelowna in October.” class=” img-responsive” src=”https://news.google.com/files/files/images/Sundance%20house.JPG” style=”margin: 5px;”/>
For a townhouse that would be $633,200 from its record-high of $820,000 in May 2022.
And for condo that translates to $446,160 from the record high of $557,700 in April 2022.
While a 20% devaluation sounds dramatic, house prices in Kelowna are still above where they were a year ago.
After all, prices went up an average of 30% throughout 2021 and into early 2022.
So, Kelowna’s housing market is still historically expensive and many people still can’t afford to buy.
For instance, even at potential bottom-out in spring, the possible $905,440 benchmark selling price of a single-family home will be way more than $790,000 it was in February 2021 before the run up and the $415,000 it was a decade ago.
We’re bringing all this up again because the Association of Interior Realtors just released trend-indicating statistics for October.
Sales in Kelowna are half of what they were a year ago, with 126 single-family homes, 45 townhouses and and 94 condominiums selling in the month.
Benchmark selling prices are $997,000, $767,500 and $490,600, respectively.
