Photo: The Canadian Press
There are many ways to describe the current real estate situation in Okanagan: smoking hot, burning, or boiling.
Out of Control can now probably be added to the list.
The Interior Estate Agents Association released its April statistics on Tuesday, and the numbers are almost out of this world. The reference price for a single family home in Central Okanagan rose a staggering $ 50,600 to $ 880,000 from March. That price, which represents an apartment with typical attributes for those traded in the area, rose by $ 103,700 in the last two months alone.
It took 12 months for the benchmark price to rise by $ 100,000 between February 2020 and February 2021. A year ago, the benchmark for a single-family home in the Central Okanagan was $ 678,300. However, the number of listings was 450, which was less than half of what was available 12 months ago.
“We cannot look at the data as usual because we were in the middle of our first lockdown around this time last year due to the pandemic,” said AIR President Kim Heizmann in a press release.
“What we can look at is what’s happening right now, and right now supply isn’t catching up with demand. We are in a supply drought when it comes to offers. “
The benchmark price for a single-family home in North Okanagan topped the $ 600,000 mark for the first time, reaching $ 617,100 in April. That was an increase of $ 590,700 in March.
April benchmark prices for townhouses in both Central and North Okanagan at that point were between 17% and 18% year over year. It was basically the same for condominiums, prices in the Central and North Okanagan markets up 13.6% and 14.2%, respectively.
As with single-family houses, the number of units available is currently significantly lower than in the previous year.
“Despite the supply drought, the market remains strong and is starting to rationalize,” said Heizmann. “With the introduction of vaccines, more and more people are being vaccinated and we’re getting some mobility and comfort back. Hopefully more houses will come on the market. “
In April, AIR calculated benchmark prices in the South Okanagan for the first time. The single-family home brand was $ 489,900, up 18.6% from that time last year.
