Oct. 2008 - Kelowna Real Estate Market Update for all Buyers, Sellers & Investors
OCTOBER 2008 - Kelowna Market Update for all Buyers, Sellers and Investors of Real Estate
By Jaime Briggs
www.BriggsOnHomes.com
The October ’08 Stats for the Central Okanagan have just been released from the Okanagan Mainline Real Estate Board (OMREB).
Here’s what they show…………..
LISTINGS – We currently have 5,466 active listings in the Central Okanagan, Which means we are only +77% up over October ’07, (This has dropped off slightly since the month of September as Sellers pull their listings off and either decide to wait out the market, or rent out their properties in the interim.)
SALES – Sales are still down about -68% for the month of Oct. ’08 vs. Oct. ’07, and are down -33% year to date (YTD). Again, the high inventory and our global economy are playing a major role in decreased sales.
DAYS TO SELL – is still at 92 days on market (DOM). Up +13% YTD over last year. (however please keep in mind that most properties are relisted/refreshed after the 90-100 day mark anyways, so stats are skewed).
AVERAGE HOUSE PRICES – For October ’08 the average price of a SF house compared to Oct. ’07, has dropped -7.73% to only $462,239.00 vs. $500,943.00 the same month last year. Again, good news for home buyers as house affordability starts to come back into their range.
British Columbia Real Estate Association (BCREA) reports residential sales dollar volume on the Multiple Listing Service® (MLS®) in BC declined
54 per cent to $1.69 billion in October, compared to October 2007. Residential unit sales were down 51 per cent to 4,018 units during the same period. The average MLS® residential price in the province was $420,259, down 6.5 per cent from October 2007.
“Housing demand was negatively affected by the global financial crisis and a sharp downturn in the equity markets,” said Cameron Muir, BCREA Chief Economist. “These events exacerbated an already low level of consumer confidence, keeping many potential homebuyers on the sidelines.”
Residential sales in October were the lowest since December 2000, on a seasonally adjusted basis. “Home sales are unlikely to fall much further,” added Muir. “While the provincial economy has weakened, the fundamentals support a higher level of home sales than experienced last month.”
Year-to-date MLS® residential sales dollar volume in the province declined 27 per cent to $29.2 billion compared to the same period last year. Provincial MLS® sales declined 30 per cent to 63,760 units, while the average residential price increased 5 per cent to $458,078 over the same period.
We are definitely seeing some very HOT BUYS out there now in the Kelowna market……and slowly seeing a decrease in inventories as home owners choose to either rent out their homes, or wait out the market. This lower inventory will only help those that are serious to sell and start to give Buyers fewer choices out there!
For more market statistics and graphs go to www.OMREB.com or go to www.BriggsOnHomes.com