August 13, 2009 -
JULY SALES WAY UP, INVENTORY DOWN, PRICES CONTINUE TO RISE AGAIN! …. Again, more good news for the Kelowna real estate market this past month.
July 2009 house sales were much, much stronger (+59%) than July 2008 which was on the tail-end of the real estate boom. Low interest rates and awesome deals continue to buzz our local real estate market.
The July ‘09 Stats for the Central Okanagan have been released from the Okanagan Mainline Real Estate Board (OMREB). Here’s what they show (July ‘’09)…………..
SALES – July ’09 sales saw a huge increase! Total market sales were up over 40% vs. last YTD. Residential sales alone were up +59% vs. July ’08. This month we had a total of 468 sales including; 231 single family homes, 106 condos, 64 townhomes, plus other misc.
AVERAGE HOUSE PRICES – After 6 months of dropping prices, our average home prices are slowly rising again. In July ’09 the average price for SF house was back up to $483,183. This is now only (-4%) vs. July ’08 which was at $502,887. However, the July ’09 average price is way up compared to 6 months ago. (Now $483,183 vs. $411,591 in January ‘09).
LISTINGS – We had 5,402 active listings in the Central Okanagan, which was only slightly down from last YTD (-1.58%), however, we took -14% listings in July 2009 vs. July 2008. Which means that inventory is slowly decreasing.
These increased home price increases are good news for Sellers, but not as good news for Buyers who are still wondering if it's a good time to buy. Buyers who purchased in these last 6 months of flat sales and low prices should be very pleased. If you are still sitting on the fence about whether or not now is the time to buy, don’t wait too much longer and further disappoint yourself! The recovery from our recession was much quicker than most had anticipated. No one knows what the future will hold for the remainder of the year, but the outlook looks quite promising for the Kelowna market.
Here's the forecast from the BC Market as a whole:
BC Housing Market Exhibits Balanced Conditions
Regional Differences Persist
Vancouver, BC – August 14, 2009. The British Columbia Real Estate Association (BCREA) reports that Multiple Listing Service® (MLS®) residential sales in the province climbed 53 per cent to 10,051 units in July 2009 compared to the same month last year. After six consecutive months of rising home sales and declining inventories, the province moved into balanced conditions in July, the first time since April 2008.
"Record home sales in Metro Vancouver and Victoria propelled the province into balanced conditions last month,” said Cameron Muir, BCREA Chief Economist. “While conditions in many interior markets are getting much better, their reliance on the struggling resource sector and a recent spate of forest fires have contributed to a more gradual pace of improvement."
Year-to-date, MLS® residential sales dollar volume declined 10 per cent to $21 billion over the same period last year. A total of 46,380 units were sold in the first seven months of 2009, down 6 per cent from 2008, while the average MLS® price declined 4 per cent to $451,758.
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For more information, please contact:
| Cameron Muir | Damian Stathonikos |
| Chief Economist | Director of Communications and Public Affairs |
| Direct: 604.742.2780 | Direct: 604.742.2793 |
| Mobile: 778.229.1884 | Mobile: 778.990.1320 |
| Email: cmuir@bcrea.bc.ca | Email: dstathonikos@bcrea.bc.ca |
BCREA represents 12 member real estate boards and their nearly 18,000 REALTORS® on all provincial issues, providing an extensive communications network, standard forms, economic research and analysis, government relations, applied practice courses and continuing education.
To demonstrate the profession’s commitment to improving Quality of Life in BC communities, BCREA supports growth that encourages economic vitality, provides housing opportunities, respects the environment and builds communities with good schools and safe neighbourhoods.
For detailed statistical information, contact your local real estate board. MLS® is a cooperative marketing system used only by Canada’s real estate boards to ensure maximum exposure of properties listed for sale.