In 20 years of work as a realtor in Kelowna Rick Hamer-Jackson has never seen anything quite like it.
“We’ve never seen the rapid price growth we’ve seen in the last two to three months,” he said.
We spoke with Hamer-Jackson outside a home he has listed in the Glenmore area that probably gained a hundred thousand dollars in value since the end of February.
“It could be said that every house is up to a minimum of 100 grand in the last 60 to 90 days,” he said. “And who knows it seems like we’re still moving in that direction, so we’ll see what happens the rest of the year.”
Photo Credit: KelownaNow” src=”https://www.kamloopsbcnow.com/files/files/images/newhouses.jpg” style=”margin: 5px;”/>”It’s becoming the Vancouver syndrome, where some people might never be able to buy a house now. Our prices are creeping up on those types of values.”
It means young people may have to look elsewhere as they become priced out of their hometown.
“There’s families that are being forced out. But even that is a bit difficult. You can go over to Kamloops, the South Okanagan, even the Kootenays and the values are up everywhere in Western Canada,” explained Hamer-Jackson.
At least some of the blame can be placed on 2020’s biggest villain, COVID-19. Which has created a trend that has people cashing in their Vancouver real estate for Kelowna’s which is still cheaper by comparison.
