At least $ 24 million in Kelowna land has been sold since May, but most investors shy away from Okanagan acreage that requires rezoning and higher risk, agents say

Vancouver’s Cressey Development Corp. is expecting a quick presale sell-off of an ultra-luxury, 127-unit mixed-use water project in downtown Kelowna, and developers are offering farmed land in the city at over-valued prices, but land action slows down when zoning and risk come into play, local say Agents.

As hot as Kelowna properties are this year, previous downturns continue to hit them.

Cressy’s project, known as Caban, consists of upscale residential and retail properties on the lakefront of Kelowna’s popular Gyro Beach, resurrecting a plan for a similar project on the same two-acre site that was suspended during the 2008 recession.

The environment is different today, according to caban seller Taylor Musseau, who said a few invitations-only previews in Vancouver and Kelowna were enough to enroll 200 potential condo buyers for the Caban project.

Musseau expects most buyers to be owner-occupiers when Caban opens in 2024, but Cressey appears to be hedging his bets. The $ 850-per-square-meter residential units, which include seven townhouses, will also be available for short-term rentals, Musseau confirmed.

Another greenfield of a stalled development, a 1.41-acre lot on Pacific Avenue and Pasnak Streets in Kelowna that resulted from a six-lot build-up, was sold by court order in June of that year. The website had reached third reading for a 110-unit condominium before the developer got out of a bind two years ago.

It was valued at $ 7.02 million and sold for $ 8.31 million after multiple bids on June 16.

In a pending transaction, an undisclosed Vancouver investor offered $ 3.27 million on a 0.58-acre property in Kelowna with potential for 45 units that is listed by Macdonald Realty, Kelowna.

That adds up to $ 5.45 million per acre, or $ 128 per square foot, which is close to Lower Mainland values.

“It’s just mind blowing what happened to Kelowna prices,” said Jeff Hudson, director and co-founder of HM Commercial Group in Kelowna, whose most recent report on land sales was more than $ 24 million in deals since May of this year.

According to Hudson, out-of-town buyers include groups from Ontario, Saskatchewan, Alberta, and BC, the latter mostly from the Lower Mainland and Vancouver Island. Seymour Pacific Developments, a large, multi-family rental developer based in Campbell Riverr, is a “major player” in Kelowna, according to Hudson, while Vancouver-based PC Urban has bought industrial sites in the area.

Cressey is looking for more land in BC’s second largest city outside of the Lower Mainland, said Hani Lammam, executive vice president of the Cressey Development Group. Vancouver mega-housing companies Adera and Polygon already own land in Kelowna.

“Kelowna has come of age,” said Lammam, “she’s a real contender.”

But the hyper-action stands for land outside of Kelowna’s core, said Scott Marshall of Re / Max Kelowna, a rural specialist in Okanagan, whose current offerings include 142 acres of land designated as rural land on Huckleberry Road, Kelowna , is shown. The price is less than $ 30,000 per acre.

His customers, he said, are mostly locals, including patient developers, who realized it could take months, maybe even years, to schedule permits for higher density rezoning. Marshall estimates that rural land values ​​in Okanagan have increased perhaps 15 percent in the past five years, well below the 50 percent increase seen in Kelowna over the same period.

“Despite all the hype, it seems like a normal year here,” he said.

The housing market in central Okanagan has cooled, confirmed Kim Heizmann, president of the Association of Interior Realtors, who reported that property sales in August were down 15 percent from August last year and listings were down 45 percent. However, the reference price for single-family homes is up 35 percent year-over-year to $ 962,000, the fourth highest in Canada.

“The [housing] The market has slowed down slightly due to a chronic shortage of stocks, but by no means slowly, ”said Heizmann.

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